The Irish in America

BANCROFT LIBRARY

; 1

/

THE

IRISH IN AMERICA.

BY
JOHN FEANCIS MAGUIRE, M. P.,

AUTHOR OF "ROME AND ITS RULER ;" "FATHER MATHEW, A BIOGRAPHY ;" KTC.

NEW YORK:
D. & J. SADLIER & CO., 31 BARCLAY STREET.

MONTREAL:
CORNER NOTRE-DAME AND ST. FRANCIS XAVIER STREETS.

BOSTON: MRS. HICKEY, 19 HIGH STREET.
1868.

VINCENT DILL, STEREOTYPER A ELECTROTYPER,
98 & 27 New Chambers Stroot, N. Y.

EDWARD O. JENKINS, PRINTER,
•*> North William Street, N. Y.

Bancroft Library

To the IRISH IN AMERICA,—

who, devoted citizens of that great country which has

afforded an asylum and given a home to millions of

their race, cherish a fond attachment to the

dear old land of their birth and their

fathers, and reflect credit upon

it by their virtues, —

this volume ia

dedicated

by

THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

MORE thaii one motive influenced me in the desire to
visit America, and record the results of my impres-
sions in a published form.

I desired to ascertain by personal observation what the
Irish — thousands of whom were constantly emigrating,
as it were, from my very door — were doing in America ;
and that desire, to see with my own eyes, and judge with
my own mind, was stimulated by the conflicting and con-
tradictory accounts which reached home through various
channels and sources of information, some friendly, more
hostile.

I was desirous of understanding practically the true
value of man's labour and industry, as applied to the
cultivation of the soil and the development of a country.
It has been so much the fashion of the day, either to
palliate or excuse even the most grievous wrong done to
the poor and the defenceless on the plea that in conse-
quence of their ' want of capital' nothing could be hoped
from them in their own country, and that emigration to
another country was their only resource ; or to despair
of any material improvement in the condition and circum-

VI PREFACE.

stances of Ireland until * capital ' — meaning bullion or
hank-paper — was by some means or other introduced, and
applied to her soil, that I determined to test this pro-
blem, or fallacy, by visiting settlements actually in their
infancy, thus going to the very commencement, and seeing
how the first difficulties were overcome, and how progress
was gradually effected. I have in more than one instance
given the result of my own observation in this respect ;
and where I had not the opportunity of judging for
myself, I have relied on the accounts given to me by
persons both intelligent and trustworthy. In whatever
prominence I have given to this subject, I had another
and distinct purpose in view — to combat, by argument
and illustration, a sad error into which, from many causes
and motives, the Irish are unhappily betrayed ; that of
not selecting the right place for their special industry—
of the Irish peasant lingering in the city until he becomes
merged in its population, and his legitimate prospects of
a future of honour and independence are lost to him for
ever. And to this portion of the volume I earnestly im-
plore the attention of those by whom advice may be use-
fully given or influence successfully exerted, so that its
lesson may be urged upon such as have still the choice of
a future before them.

I desired to learn if, as had been confidently and
repeatedly asserted, Irish Catholics lost their faith, or
became indifferent to religion, the moment they landed in
America ; or whether, as it had been asserted in their
defence, they wore at once the pioneers and the pillars of

PREFACE. Vll

their faith. In this enquiry I was mainly influenced by
the conviction that loss of faith or indifference to re-
ligion would be the most terrible of all calamities to
Irish Catholics ; that the necessary result of that loss
of faith or that indifference to religion would be fatal
to their material progress, would disastrously interfere
with the proper performance of their duties as citizens,
and would be certain to turn the public opinion of
America against them. I have devoted a considerable
portion of the following pages to this vital subject, and
given rather an elaborate sketch of the history and
progress of the Catholic Church of America — of that
institution by which, humanly speaking, the education,
the character, the conduct, the material welfare and
social position of the Irish and their descendants are
and must be profoundly influenced. And, indeed, in
giving a history of the growth and progress of the
Catholic Church I was representing the struggles and
the difficulties of the Irish emigrant or settler of the
present century.

I was also anxious to ascertain the real nature, that
is the strength or the intensity, of the sentiment which
I had reason to believe was entertained by the Irish
in the United States towards the British Government ;
as I considered, and I hold rightly, that the existence
of a strong sentiment or feeling of hostility is a far
more serious cause of danger, in case of future misun-
derstanding or complication, than any organisation,
however apparently extensive or formidable. I have

V;il PREFACE.

given the results of my impressions and information
freely and without disguise. What I have stated will
necessarily be judged of from different points of view ;
but of this I feel certain, that did I not write what I
know to be the truth, I should not be acting with
honesty ; and that disguise and concealment would be
far more prejudicial than ' open and advised speaking.7

I shall now only express, in one comprehensive ac-
knowledgment, my deep sense of gratitude for the many
courtesies, and kindnesses, and acts of friendship, which
I received on all sides during a protracted and varied
tour.

The book — The Irish in America — is now delivered
up to the judgment of the reader, with all its imper-
fections on its head.

LONDON: November 27, 1867.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE.

Difference of the Position of the Irish in the Old Country, and the
New — Difference in the Countries — Power and Dignity of Labour —
The Irish Element strong in Halifax— Their Progress— The Value of
a ' Lot'— No Snobbishness— The Secret of Prosperity — The Poor's
Asylum — Cause of Poverty — Catholic Church in Nova Scotia — Sick
'Calls'— A Martyr to Duty— No State Church— Real Religious
Equality — Its Advantages — Pictou — My Friend Peter — Peter shows
the Lions — At the Mines— Irish everywhere— A family Party —
Nova Scotia as a Home for Emigrants 1

CHAPTER II.

Prince Edward Island— How the Irish came — Visit to an Irish Settle-
ment— Prosperity of the Irish — A Justice of the Peace — The Land
Question — What the Tenant claims— The Tenant League and the
Government — -Confiscation' profitable to the Government, and
beneficial to the People — A Scotch Bishop's testimony to the Irish
—The Irish and their Pastors— The Sisters of Notre Dame— A
graceful Gift 29

CHAPTER III.

Scene in the Lords — The Irish Race despaired of — The Settlement
of Johnville, New Brunswick— We enter the Settlement— The First
Man and Woman— The Second Man and Woman —Celtic Energy-
Jimmy M'Allister — Mr. Reilly from Ballyvourney — How the Man
of no Capital gets along — One Cause of Success — Mass in the
Forest— Neither Rent nor ' Gale '—Other Settlements 60

CHAPTER IV. ,

Irish who settle on the Land — Their Success — Their Progress in
St. John— Three Irishmen— A Small Beginning — Testimony of a
Belfast Independent — Position of Irish Catholics— The Church in
New Brunswick— A Sweet Bit— Missionary Zeal— Catholicity in
St. John— Past and Present. . 76

X C ONTENTS.

CHAPTER V .

PAGE.

The Irish in Quebec — Their Progress and Success — Education en-
tirely Free— Montreal — Number and position of the Irish— Their *
Difficulties and Progress — Beneficial Influence of good Priests —
St. Patrick's Hall 91

CHAPTER VI.

Upper Canada — Number of the Irish — How they came and settled,
and how they got along ; Illustrated by the district of Peter-
borough—Difficulties and Hardships— Calumnies refuted — What
the Settlers did in a few Months — Early Trials — Progress and
Contrast — Father Gordon — Church-building in the Forest — An
early Settler — A Sad Accident — A Long Journey to Mass — A
Story strange but true— The Last Grain of Tea— Father Gordon
on the Irish and their Love of the Faith 103

CHAPTER VII.

Woolfe Island — Jimmy Cuffe — A Successful Irishman — Simple Pat
as an Agriculturist — The Land Question in Canada — Wise Policy
of the Canadian Parliament— Happy Results of a Wise Policy 124

CHAPTER VIII.

The Irish Exodus — The Quarantine at Grosse Isle — The Fever Sheds
— Horrors of the Plague — The ' Unknown ' — The Irish Orphans
— The Good Canadians — Resistless Eloquence — One of the Or-
phans— The Forgotten Name— The Plague in Montreal — How the
Irish died— The Monument at Point St. Charles— The Gravemound
in Kingston — An illustrious Victim in Toronto — How the Survi-
vors pushed on — The Irish in the Cities of Upper Canada — The
Education System — The Dark Shadow— The Poison of Orange-
ism — The only drawback 134

CHAPTER IX.

Newfoundland— Monstrous Policy — Bad Times for the Irish Papists
— How the Bishop saved the Colony — The Cathedral of St. John's
— Evil of having but one Pursuit— Useful Efforts— The Plague of
Dogs— Proposal to exterminate the ' Noble Newfoundland '—Wise
Legislation — Reckless Improvidence — Kindly Relations — Irish
Girls.. 1(52

CONTENTS. XI

C II A P T E R X .

PAGE.

The Irish Exodus — Emigration, its Dangers by Sea and Land — Cap-
tain and Crew well matched — How Things were done Twenty Years
since— The Emigration Commission and its Work — Landsharks and
their Prey — Finding Canal Street — A Scotch Victim— The Sharks
and Cormorants— Bogus Tickets — How the ' Outlaws ' resisted
Reform— The New System— The days of Bogus Tickets gone—
A Word of Advice — Working of the System — Intelligence and
Labour Department — Miss Nightingale's Opinion — Necessity for
Constant Vigilance— The last Case one of the Worst 179

CHAPTER XI.

Evil of remaining in the great Cities— Why the City attracts the
new Comer — Consequence of Overcrowding — The Tenement
House^. of New York— Important Official Reports— Glimpses of
the Reality — An inviting Picture — Misery and Slavery combined
— Inducements to Intemperance — Massacre of the Innocents — In
the wrong Place — Town and Country 214

CHAPTER XII.

The Land the great Resource for the Emigrant — Cases in Point — An
Irishman socially redeemed — More Instances of Success on the
Land— An Irish Public Opinion wanted— Irish Settlements in Min-
nesota and Illinois — The Public Lands of America — The Coal and
Iron of America — Down South — A Kildare Man in the South —
Tipperary Men in the South — The Climate of the South— California
an Illustration of the true Policy 237

CHAPTER XIII.

California of the Past and Present — Early Irish Settlers— Death amid
the Mountains — Pat Clark. But One Mormon — The Irish wisely
settle on the Land — How they Succeeded in the Cities — Successful
Thrift. Irish Girls— The Church in San Francisco— What a poor
Irishman can do 262

CHAPTER XIV.

Drink more injurious to the Irish than to others — Why this is so —
Archbishop Spalding's testimony — Drink and Politics — Temperance
Organisations— Hope in the Future 281

XII CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

Poor Irish Gentility — Honest labour— The Miller's son— Well-earned
Success — No poor Irish Gentility here — A self-made Man— How he
became a Master Baker — The Irish don't do themselves Justice
—How they are regarded— Scotch Irish 292

CHAPTER XVII.

Remittances Home — Something of the Angel still— How the Family
are brought out — Remittances— A ' Mercenary '—A. Young Pioneer
A Poor Irish Widow — Self-sacrifice— The Amount sent 313

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Character of Irish Women in America— An Unwelcome Bap-
tism— The Universal Testimony— Shadows— Perils to Female^Vir-
tue— Irish Girls 5 their Value to the Race 333

CHAPTER XIX.

The Catholic Church— The Irish— The Church not afraid of Freedom
— A Contrast — Who the Persecutors were— The American Con-
stitution— Washington's Reply to the Catholics — The First Church
in New York— Boston in 1790— Universality of the Church— Early
Missions — Two Great Orders — Mrs. Seton— Mrs. Seton founds her
Order— Early Difficulties and Privations— Irish Sisters 345

CHAPTER XX.

Bishop Connolly's Note-Book—Laity's Directory for 1822— Dr. Kir-
wan previous to his Apostacy— The Church in 1822 — Progress in
1834— How the Faith was Lost 370

CHAPTER XXI.

Dr. England, Bishop of Charleston— Bishop England's Diary— Bishop
England's Missionary Labours— The Bishop's Trials— Bishop Eng-
land's growing Fame 381

CHAPTER XXII.

Bishop England's Diocese — ' Music hath Charms ' — Preaching by the
Wayside— William George Read—' Mister Paul '—Taking a Fresh
Start— Father O'Neill's Two Hundred Children 392

CONTENTS. XIII

CHAPTER XXIII.

PAGE.

Dangers from within and without — The Lay Trustees — A Daring
Hoax — Burning of the Charlestown Convent — A Grateful Ruffian
—'Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk' — Protestant Verdict on
Maria Monk 405

CHAPTER XXIV.

Bishop England's Devotion to the Negro — The Frenchman Van-
quished— The Bishop stripped to his Shirt — Bishop England's
Death— Spiritual Destitution — As late as 1847— The Sign of the
Cross— Keeping the Faith — Bishop Hughes —Bishop Hughes and
the School Question— A Lesson for the Politicians — The Riots
of Philadelphia— The Native American Party — The Bishop and
the Mayor — Progress of the Church 416

CHAPTER XXV.

The Know Nothing Movement — Jealousy of the Foreigner— Know
Nothings indifferent to Religion — Democratic Orators— Even at
the Altar and in the Pulpit— Almost Incredible — The Infernal
Miscreant — A Strange Confession 444

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Catholic Church and the Civil War— The True Mission of the
Church— The Church Speaks for Herself— The ' Sisters 7 during the
War — The Patients could not make them out — The Forgiven Insult
— ' What the Sister believes I believe ' — The Chariot of Mercy —
'Am I to Forgive the Yankees?' — Prejudices Conquered — 'That's
she ! I owe my Life to her ' — An Emphatic Rebuke — ' We want to
become Catholics.'. . . 459

CHAPTER XXVII.

Catholic Education — The Catholic Church in Advance of the Age
—Catholic Teaching favourable to Parental Authority— Protestant
confidence in true Catholics — The Liberal American Protestant —
Catholic Schools— The Sister in the School and the Asylum-
Protestant Confidence in Convent Schools- -The Christian Brothers
- Other Teaching Orders— From the Camp to the School 488

XIV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PAQK.

Juvenile Reformation — Opposition to Catholic Reformatories — The
two Systems Illustrated — Christianity Meek and Loving — The
Work of the Enemy— Solemn Appeals to Catholic Duty 510

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore — Protestant Tribute to the
Catholic Church — Progress of Catholicity — Instances of its Pro-
gress— The Past and the Present — The Church in Chicago and New
York — Catholicity in Boston — Anticipations not Realised — Num-
ber of Catholics in the States — Circumstances of Protestant and
Catholic Emigrant Different — Loss of Faith and Indifferentism. . . 522

CHAPTER XXX.

The Irish in the War — Irish faithful to either Side — Thomas Francis
Meagher — Why the Irish joined distinct Organisations — Irish
Chivalry — More Irish Chivalry — The Religious Influence — Not
knowing what he preached on — Cleanliness of the Irish Soldier —
Respect for the Laws of War — A Non-combatant defending his
Castle— Defended with Brick-bats—' Noblesse Oblige '—Pat's Little
Game — Irish Devotedness — The Love of Fight — Testimonies to
the Irish Soldier — The Handsomest Thing of the War— Patrick
Ronayne Cleburne — General Cleburne and his Opinions — In Me-
moriam— After the War — The Grandest of all Spectacles 645

CHAPTER XXXI.

Feeling of the Irish in America towards England — A Fatal Mis-
take— Not Scamps and Rowdies— Who they really are — Sympathy
conquering Irritation— Indifference to Danger— Down in the Mine
— One of the Causes of Anti-English Feeling — More of the Cause
of Bad Feeling— What Grave and Quiet Men think— If they only
could ' see their way'— A Grievance redressed is a Weapon broken
— The Irish Element — Belief in England's Decay — War with Eng-
land— Why most Injurious to England— Why less Injurious to
America— The only Possible Remedy 590

South Carolina— Bishop Lynch's Letter 625

Essential Importance of the Foreign Element to the United States. . 636
Biographical Sk •:< h of Major-General P. R. Cleburne 642

THE

TKISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

Difference of the Position of the Irish in the Old Country, and
the New — Difference in the Countries— Power and Dignity of
Labour — The Irish Element strong in Halifax — Their Progress
—The Value of a • Lot ' — No Snobbishness— The Secret of Pros-
perity— The Poor's Asylum — Cause of Poverty — Catholic Church
in Nova Scotia— Sick 'Calls'— A Martyr to Duty— No State
Church — Real Religious Equality — Its Advantages — Pictou —
My Friend Peter — Peter shows the Lions — -At the Mines — Irish
everywhere — A Family Party — Nova Scotia as a Home for
Emigrants.

/CROSSING the Atlantic, and landing at any city of the
\J American seaboard, one is enabled, almost at a glance,
to recognise the marked difference between the position of
the Irish race in the old country and in the new. Nor is
the condition of the Irish at both sides of the ocean more
marked in its dissimilarity than are the circumstances and
characteristics of the country from which they emigrated
and the country to which they have come. In the old
country, stagnation, retrogression, if not actual decay — in
the new, life, movement, progress ; in the one, depression,
want of confidence, dark apprehension of the future — in
the other, energy, self-reliance, and a perpetual looking
forward to a grander development and a more glorious
destiny. That the tone of the public mind of America
should be self-reliant and even boastful, is natural in u
country of brief but pregnant history — a country still in its

2 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

infancy, when compared with European States, but pos-
sessing, in the fullest sense, the strength and vigour of man-
hood— manhood in all its freshness of youth and buoy-
ancy of hope. In such a country man is most conscious
of his value : he is the architect of his country's great-
ness, the author of her civilisation, the miracle-worker
by whom all has been or can be accomplished. Where
a few years since a forest waved in mournful grandeur,
there are cultivated fields, blooming orchards, comfortable
homesteads, cheerful hamlets — churches, schools, civilisa-
tion ; where but the other day a few huts stood on a
river's bank, by the shore of a lake, or on some estuary of
the sea, swelling domes and lofty spires and broad porticoes
now meet the eye ; and the waters but recently skimmed
by the light bark of the Indian are ploughed into foam
by countless steamers. And the same man who performed
these miracles of a few years since — of yesterday — has the
same power of to-morrow achieving the same wondrous
results of patience and energy, courage and skill. But for
him, and his hands to toil and his brain to plan, the vast
country whose commerce is on every sea, and whose influ-
ence is felt in every court, would be still the abode of sa-
vage tribes, dwelling in perpetual conflict and steeped in
the grossest ignorance. Labour is thus a thing to be
honoured, not a badge of inferiority. Nor is the poor man
here a drug, a social nuisance, something to be legislated
against or got rid of, regarded with suspicion because of
his probable motives or intentions, or with aversion as a
possible burden on property. In the old countries, the
ordinary lot of the man born to poverty is that poverty
shall be his doom — that he shall die in the condition in
which he was brought into the world, and that he shall
transmit hard toil and scanty remuneration as a legacy
to his children. But in a new country, especially one of
limitless fields for enterprise, the rudest implements of
labour may be the means of advancement to wealth,

IRISH ELEMENT STRONG IN HALIFAX. 8

honour, and distinction, if not for those who use them, at
least for those who spring from their loins. Labour, rightly
understood, being the great miracle-worker, the mighty
civiliser, is regarded with respect, not looked down upon,
or loftily patronised ; and though birth and position and
superior intelligence will always have their influence, even
in the newest state of society, still honest industry appre-
ciates its own dignity, and holds high its head amidst the
proudest or the best. Therefore America, of ah1 countries,
is the one most suited to the successful transplanting of a
race which has in it every essential element of greatness —
alertness and vigour of intellect, strength and energy of
body, patient industry, courage and daring in battle,
cheerful endurance of adversity and privation, quickness
of invention, profound faith, with firm reliance in the
wisdom and goodness of God, and a faculty of thoroughly
identifying itself with the institutions, interests, and honour
of its adopted home.

And in no city of the American continent do the Irish
occupy a better position, or exercise a more deserved in-
fluence than in Halifax, which has been well described by
an enthusiastic Hibernian as the 'Wharf of the Atlantic.'
Forming the majority of the population of that active and
energetic city, they constitute an essential element of its
stability and progress. This Irish element is everywhere
discernible, in every description of business and in all
branches of industry, in every class and in every condition
of life, from the highest to the lowest. There are in other
cities larger masses of Irish, some in which they are five
times, and even ten times as numerous as the whole popu-
lation of Halifax; but it may be doubted if there are
many cities of the entire continent of America in which
they afford themselves fuller play for the exercise of their
higher qualities than in the capital of Nova Scotia, where
their moral worth keeps pace with their material prosperity,
which is remarkably great, especially when considering the

4 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

circumstances under which the far greater proportion of
them arrived in the new world.

Those who are well off at home do not quit it for a new
country ; contented with their present position, they never
dream of changing it for one which is sure to be accom-
panied with more or less of risk or hardship. The impelling
motive that has driven millions across the Atlantic, and
that may drive millions more in the same direction, is the
desire, so natural to the civilised man, of improving his
condition, of obtaining the certain means of a decent
livelihood — in a word, of making a home and a future for
himself and his children. It matters little to what portion
of America reference is had, the same impelling motive
has added to its population, and been one of the principal
causes of its progress and development. Instances there
have been of people well-to-do in the old country, deliber-
ately exchanging it for the new, chiefly with the view of
turning their means to better account, and thus securing a
larger inheritance for their children ; but when compared
with the vast tide of emigration to which America is mainly
indebted for the position she this day holds among the
nations, these exceptional cases constitute so infinitesimal
a minority as to be scarcely appreciable. The mass came
because they had no option but to come, because hunger
and want were at their heels, and flight was their only
chance of safety. Thus the majority landed from the
emigrant ship with little beyond a box or bundle of clothes,
and the means of procuring a week's or a month's provi-
sions— very many with still less. Some had education,
intelligence, and knowledge of business; but of this class
few had money — they crossed the ocean to secure that.
Therefore, when in Halifax, as in all other parts of America,
Irishmen are to be found in the enjoyment of independ-
ence, and even considerable wealth, it must be evident
that their success is attributable to their own exertions and
their own merit.

TIIKltt PROGRESS -THE VALUE OF A ' LOT.' 5

Halifax may be described as a city of solid prosperity and
steady progress ; and the Irish not only share in its pros-
perity but assist in its progress. Thus, for instance, a
large proportion of the houses of business, several of which
would be worthy of the proudest capitals of Europe, have
been established by Irish enterprise. One, the most con-
spicuous for its appearance and extent, is the property of
perhaps the most eminent and honoured Irishman in the
colony, who bringing with him from his native country, as
his only capital, character, intelligence, and industry, has
not only realised a splendid fortune, but enjoys a reputa-
tion for worth and probity which is the pride of his country-
men. In the rapid conversion of Halifax from a city of
timber to a city of brick and stone, the Irish have their
full share. Splendid 'stores' — •' shops' in the old country
— and handsome mansions have been erected by Irishmen ;
and where the Irish trader adheres to the old place of
business or the modest dwelling, it is not because he wants
the means of erecting something striking or costly, but
that he lacks the inclination to do so, and prefers the sim-
plicity which he associates with his success, and deems in-
dispensable to his cornf' »rt.

In Halifax, as throughout America, the Irish necessarily
form the large proportion of the working population; and
when these men landed on the wharf, they had nothing
save the implements of their craft, or the capacity and wil-
lingness for labour. But whether skilled mechanics, or
mere day-labourers, their condition is, on the whole, admir-
able; and the best proof of their good conduct is the pos-
session by a considerable number of them of that which,
throughout the British Provinces and the States, is the first
step in advance — ' a lot ' — meaning thereby a piece of ground
on which a house is, or is to be, erected.

There is a kind of magic influence in the possession of
this first bit of 'real estate.' An evidence of frugality and
self-denial, it is an incentive to the continued practice of

6 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the same virtues. It is the commencement, and yet some-
tiling more than the commencement; it may be called
' half the battle/ for the rest depends on perseverance in
the same course. The house may be rude in construction,
mean in appearance, miserable in accommodation, but it is
a house, in which the owner and his family can live rent-
free, for it is their property — 'their own.' With sufficient
front and sufficient depth, what is there to prevent the
owner, in time, from covering the space with a fine brick
house, with its attractive shop, and as many stories as he
pleases to raise? Once possess the 'lot' in the town, and
the rest is comparatively easy. Every year adds to its
value ; and if the owner cannot build a good house on it,
some one else may, and the owner receives in either case an
ample return for his investment. But in thousands of in-
stances throughout America, the Irish, even of the very
humblest class, possess lots on which they have erected
dwelling-houses which they themselves occupy; and in
every city one may daily behold a happy transformation in
the character of the dwelling, wherever industry is com-
bined with thrift and frugality. The structure of timber
is replaced by a building of brick ; and so the family, it
may be of the mechanic, it may be of the labourer, move up
in the social scale ; and the superior education which their
children receive enables them to improve the position their
father had acquired by his good conduct and good sense.
That 'lot' is a wonderful friend to the Irish in America, and
this the wise of them know full well.

The majority of" those who now constitute the strength
of the Catholic element in Halifax came without funds or
friends, some literally without a shilling in their pocket;
but with honesty, intelligence, and a determination to
work. From the humblest occupations, natural to their
first efforts in a strange place, many of the Irish in
Halifax have risen to wealth and influence. Industry and
good conduct — these their all, their sword and buckler,

NO SNOBBISHNESS— THE SECRET OF PROSPERITY. 7

their wand of magic power. And as they rose in the
world they carried with them the respect of the com-
munity, by whom the successful architect of his own
position is justly estimated at a higher value than the
fortunate inheritors of the wealth of those who went
before them.

It may perhaps be too much to assert that the trans-
planting of the Irishman from his own soil to a new
country and a healthier atmosphere has been of unmixed
benefit to him in every sense ; but in one respect his im-
provement is unquestionable — he is above that shame-
faced snobbishness which he too often displays at home.
It is not every one in the old country who will make the
story of his own elevation in life a matter of honest pride.
In Halifax — in America — it is different. From several of
my countrymen, of different degrees of prosperity and social
standing, I have heard the history of their early struggles
and ultimate success. Some of these had not the advan-
tage of an early education, and were self-made and self-
taught; but they were men of great sagacity and fine
natural talent, whom cultivation would have well fitted for
the administration of public affairs. One of these gave as
his reason for not accepting an office which had been placed
at his disposal, his own consciousness of the want of early
training, which was unavoidable in his case, owing to the
circumstances of Ireland at the time of his leaving it; and
yet he dealt with the question of the hour — the proposed
Confederation of the British Colonies — with a breadth of
thought and a mastery of detail that proved the very fitness
which he modestly repudiated.

'Such a man is worth 5,000/.,' 'this man has 10,000/.,'
'that man is worth 20,OOOZ.,' 'this other man is worth
50,OOOZ., if he is worth a penny,' has been repeatedly said
to me of Irishmen who made no show whatever; but
almost invariably one important statement was added:
'he is a steady, prudent man/ 'he is a good, worthy man,'

8 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

or, * there is not a better conducted man in the province.'
The golden rule of success in life was thus frequently ex-
pressed : * To get on here, a man must be industrious and
well-conducted ; with industry and good conduct any man,
no matter what he is, or what he has, or how he begins,
can get on here ; but not without these essentials. But
the man who drinks, bid him remain at home — he won't do
here.' Spoken in Nova Scotia, as the experience of people
of all ranks, classes, and occupations, it is equally appli-
cable to every province of British America, and every State
in- the Union. Industry, sobriety, good conduct — these,
under favourable circumstances, raise the humblest to the
level of the great ; and favourable circumstances abound
in America.

A visit to two institutions of very different character im-
pressed me with a still stronger conviction of the prosperity
of Halifax. These institutions, its Poor's Asylum and its
Schools.

The number in the Poor's Asylum, according to the
record in the book, was 354. This was the gross number ;
but the number belonging to the city was only 120, which
was small for a population of 34,000. The rest had been
sent in from various places in the province — some from
distances varying from 50 even to 200 miles. Strictly
speaking, there was not an able-bodied male pauper in the
establishment : those who were there were the aged, the
infirm, the sick, the helpless, or those waifs and strays that
are stranded on the shore of life, the victims of their folly
and infatuation. Deducting the children, 64 in number,
the insane or idiotic, about 50 in all, and the sick, infirm,
and aged, who were the majority, the remaining were but
few. As the Master said, there was not in the house a man
who could perform a day's work.

What to do with our workhouse children — how to deal
with those who are brought up in such institutions — is one
of the most formidable difficulties with which the adminis-

THE POOR'S ASYLUM-CAUSE OF POVEKTV. 9

trators of the Poor-law in Ireland have to deal. There is
no difficulty in Halifax on that score; and if throughout
America the children of the poor were treated in one
essential respect in the same spirit of fairness, there would
be fewer occasions for bitterness than unhappily exist in
some of the Northern States. The children being carefully
taught, the boys are appenticed out as early as the age of
twelve or thirteen, and are indentured till twenty-one, due
precaution being had not only as to the means and character
of the master, but for the protection of the religious faith
of the child; the latter being secured by binding the
Catholic child to a Catholic master, and the Protestant
child to a Protestant master — a course which commends
itself to every fair and impartial mind. The girls are
apprenticed till the age of eighteen. By the conditions of
the indenture, the child is to be suitably educated, and to
be provided with a Sunday suit, at the expense of the
master or mistress. But with very few exceptions, the
children, boys and girls, become incorporated with the
family, of which, almost from the first, they are looked
upon and treated as members.

Of the entire number of inmates in this Halifax institu-
tion, about two thirds are Irish; and according to the
united testimony of the secretary and two gentlemen of
local eminence, the greater number of them owed their
social ruin to the one fruitful cause of evil to the Irish
race — that which tracks them across the ocean, and follows
them in every circumstance and condition of life — that
which mars their virtues and magnifies their failings — •
that which is in reality the only enemy they have occasion
to dread, for it is the most insidious, the most seductive,
and the most fatal of all — drink. Remarking on the fact
mentioned, the gentleman by whom I was accompanied, a
man of long and varied experience, said: — 'All can do well
' here if they only abstain from drink, or if they will drink
' in moderation ; but drink is the ruin of men here, just as

10 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

'in the old country. No matter how a man starts, though
'without a cent in his pocket, he can make money here,
'provided he is well-conducted, and does not drink.' Hap-
pily, however, the number of the victims was but small.

My visits to the Catholic schools, which, as is the rule
throughout America, are conducted by members of reli-
gious communities, were attended with much interest, and
left upon my mind the deepest impression, not so much of
the excellence of the teaching, for of that I had no doubt
whatever, but of the substantial prosperity of the town,
and the solid comfort enjoyed by the least wealthy portion
of its inhabitants — its working population. I went through
the schools conducted by the Christian Brothers, whose
system of teaching and discipline is in all respects iden-
tical with that so well known in those cities, of the old
country which are blessed by their presence ; my desire
being merely to see the children, how they looked, and in
what manner they were clad. Nor was my surprise less
great than agreeable at the spectacle which I. beheld. It
was heightened by the force of contrast ; as but a few
days before I left Ireland I had, with others, accompanied
certain distinguished Englishmen to the schools of the
Christian Brothers of my own city, and the remembrance
of what I there witnessed was strong and vivid. There —
in Cork — there wras much to gratify, much even to astonish,
but there was also too much to sadden and depress. The
boys bright, quick, intelligent, exhibiting in every Depart-
ment extraordinary proficiency, to such a degree indeed as
to excite the openly-expressed amazement of the strangers;
but too many of them exhibited the unmistakable evi-
dence of intense poverty, not only in their scanty rai-
ment but in their pale and -anxious faces. What a con-
trast to this — in this one respect only — was presented by
the schools of the Brothers in Halifax ! Not a single sign
or indication of poverty, not a trace of want, hot a tattered
coat or trowers, not a rent, not a patch — on the contrary,

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NOVA SCOTIA. 11

every boy, whatever his age, neatly and comfortably clad,
and having the appearance of robust health. Indeed such
was their appearance that, had I not been repeatedly as-
sured they were the "children of working men, I should
have taken them as belonging to the middle class. Bright,
intelligent, bold-eyed, happy-looking boys, the right stuff
for the future citizens of a free country and a progressive
community.

In the schools conducted by the Sisters of Charity there
was the same air of comfort and neatness in the dress of
the female children; and even where a special school
might happen to be overcrowded, there was an absence of
that oppressive odour too common in free schools frequented
by the children of the working-classes, which is mainly attri-
butable to the poverty of their clothing. There was nothing
here but comfort and decency of dress; good proofs of the
conduct and condition of the class thus favourably repre-
sented.

The Catholics of Nova Scotia are estimated at 115,000,
being thus divided— 30,000 French, 45,000 Scotch, and
40,000 Irish. In Halifax the Catholics form one half of
the population, and are almost wholly Irish.

Without going back farther than the commencement of
the present century, an incident of pregnant significance will
enable the reader to contrast the position of the Catholic
Church of that day with the position it now enjoys. The
house still occupied by Archbishop Connolly and the
clergy who ofliciate in the cathedral, was built by the
Rev. Dr. Burke, or Father Burke, as he was familiarly
called. Dr. Burke was a profound scholar, and eminent
for his scientific attainments. Following the natural
impulse of a learned and zealous priest, he determined to
establish a school for the education of the Catholic youth
of that day. The Penal Laws were still unrepealed; and
though, from the growing enlightenment of the age, this
infamous code had fallen into disuse, it still afforded a

12 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ready weapon to the caprice or hostility of the bigot.
Having been informed of the intention of Dr. Burke to
establish a school, and thus, through the most effective
means, elevate the condition of his co-religionists, the
then Governor of the province threatened to put the law
in force against the priest if he persevered in his attempt.
In this conjuncture aid came from an unexpected quarter.
The leading Protestants of the town exhibited their oppo-
sition to the illiberal policy of the Governor in the most
effective manner, by sending their own children to a school
which they had the wisdom to appreciate and the moral
courage to support. The Governor, whatever the perver-
sity of his bigotry, dared not enter into conflict with the
influential allies of the Catholic priest; and so Dr. Burke
and the cause of education triumphed. Young officers
frequented the academy, to learn mathematics and the
science of fortification, from its accomplished principal.
Strangely enough, the Government, whose representatives
sought to crush the school and the teacher, afterwards
marked its appreciation of the services of Dr. Burke — who,
owing to his influence with the Indians, prevented them
from joining the French in the war then raging — by con-
ferring on him a pension of 300?. a year. It need scarcely
be added, that this money was applied to the advancement
of religion and enlightenment in a young and struggling
mission.

The progress of the Catholic Church in Nova Scotia was
slow, and not over hopeful, for the first quarter of the
present century. In the year 1816 there were about
1,500 Catholics in Halifax, and save in a few towns, where
small congregations existed, the faithful were scattered
over the province, the greater number hidden in the wilds
and fastnesses of an almost unexplored country, and far
away from the ministrations or influence of a priest. The
Irish carried their faith with them into the forest ; and
though many of them for years never heard the onco

PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH. 13

familiar voice of their pastor, they cherished in their
hearts that strong attachment to the religion of their
fathers which is one of the most marked characteristics of
their race. As an illustration of this steadfastness in the
faith, it may be mentioned that the present Archbishop,
when a missionary priest, on one occasion baptised eight
children of an Irish family in the midst of the woods.
The father had not seen a priest more than twice in twenty
years ; and what rendered his fidelity the more remarkable
was the fact that he had married a Baptist, who did not
regard with much favour the creed of her Catholic hus-
band. This was as late as 1842, when there were but five
priests in Halifax, and fourteen or fifteen in the entire
diocese. The necessary intermarriage of Irish Catholics
with members of various Protestant sects caused many
of the former to lose the faith. No chapel, no priest,
no mass, no administration of sacraments ; nor, from the
special circumstances of a country in which education had
only ceased to be penal, were the Irish emigrants of the
early' part of this century remarkable for their literary
acquirements — hence what could be more natural than
that, while the parent clung passionately to the faith
for which, perhaps, he had suffered at home, his children,
whom he might not be able to instruct or control, should
adopt the religion of their Protestant relatives ? Such, at
any rate, has been the case in numerous instances ; and
though these instances are fewer than they have ' been
represented to be, they are sufficiently numerous to exhibit
many a strange contrast between the old Catholic patrony-
mic and the modern creed. The same circumstances pro-
duced the same result in many parts of America.

In 1820 there were but few priests in the province.
The first Bishop of Halifax was consecrated in Rome in
181G, and died in 1820. A little wooden church, dignified
by the lofty name of St. Peter's, was his cathedral. On its
site a building more suited to the increasing wants and

14 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

growing importance of the Catholic body was erected in
course of time ; until eventually that church, which, was
regarded as a -splendid structure by those who first knelt
before its altar, gave place to the existing cathedral, which
is one of the finest edifices of the kind in America, but
which is to be further extended and beautified by the
addition of a magnificent facade of white marble from the
celebrated quarries of "VVestchester, in the State of New
York. The wooden 'cathedral' of the first quarter of a
century was a fitting type of the Catholic Church of that
day: the grand stone structure, some 180 feet in length,
and with accommodation for 3,000 worshippers, fittingly
represents its position at this day. Where a mere log
hut was the only temple of the faith in Halifax, four
churches are now insufficient for their congregations ; and
a new building, of the pointed Gothic order, was roofed in
previous to the winter of 1866. Where there were but
20 priests in 1820, there are over 70 in the present year.
These have the spiritual care of 115,000 Catholics, for
whom, or by whom, more than 100 churches have been
built. In 1842 the province was erected into a See, and
in 1845 it was divided into two Sees, the Western and
Eastern. The Western was elevated to the dignity of an
archbishopric in 1852. Bishop Walsh was created the
first archbishop ; and on the death of that prelate, in
1859, Dr. Connolly, then Bishop of New Brunswick,
which is still within the ecclesiastical province, was trans-
ferred to Halifax. Since 1830, when first the Catholic
element of Nova Scotia may be said to have acquired
anything like the 'appearance of strength, more than
150,000?. has been expended in buildings for religious
and educational purposes. Of this amount, by far the
largest proportion has been raised by voluntary contribu-
tion, under the auspices and through the influence of the
second archbishop ; a man who, besides possessing a good
intellect, considerable power as a writer and speaker, and

• SICK CALLS.' . 15

strong common sense — a valuable quality in one who has
at all times to place himself in the front — is endowed with
indomitable energy and perseverance. Like his prede-
cessor, Archbishop Connolly is one of the many prelates
whom Ireland has given to the American Church. Besides
the four churches and that which has been just completed,
there are in Halifax three convents — two of the Order of
Charity, and one of the Sacred Heart — with a House of the
Christian Brothers, whose new schools form one of the most
conspicuous of the architectural ornaments of the city. Nor
is Halifax without a Society of St. Vincent, which finds
the fitting time for its benevolent operations in the depth
of the hard winter, when business is usually dull, employ-
ment consequently not so general as in the milder seasons
of the year, and the feeble, the sick, and the improvident
feel its rigour most keenly. There are likewise more
purely religious associations, whose object is to stimulate
to the constant practice of piety, and protect the young
and inexperienced from the dangers incidental to their
period of life. Thus the machinery of the Church is so
improved by increased means of usefulness as to be, if
not fully equal to the spiritual requirements of the faith-
ful, a complete protection against those contingencies to
which loss of faith on the part of individuals or families
may be fairly attributable. There is no longer an instance
— at least in Nova Scotia — of a Catholic who has been for
years without having seen a priest ; but there is still hard
work for the missionary priest in a territory so widely
extended, and whose population is so thinly scattered over
a vast space.

Perhaps the hardest and most trying duty which a
Catholic clergyman has to discharge is connected with
what are so well known to laity and clergy as 'sick calls,'
requests made by the relatives or friends of the sick or
dying for the attendance of a priest. From this duty the
Catholic priest never shrinks. It matters not what the

16 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

distance, the hour, or the danger, though the sick or dying
person was a hundred miles away, though it was midnight,
an$l there was not a star visible in the heavens — though
the place to be visited reeked with the deadliest pestilence,
the priest should at once obey the solemn summons. The
priest who shrinks from this imperative duty is unfit for
his mission ; happily, an instance of neglect or cowardice
is rarely heard of in the Catholic Church. But there are
circumstances in which the conscientious discharge of this
duty is attended with an amount of individual hardship
that can scarcely be appreciated by those who inhabit a
country at once thoroughly cultivated and thickly popu-
lated.

Father Geary, a Halifax priest — originally from Water-
ford, and now about four years dead — frequently attended
'sick calls' at a distance of a hundred miles from the city,
along the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, and did so without
the assistance of horse or vehicle of any kind. He had
literally to walk the hundred miles, and this he has done as
often as four times in the year. As the tidings of distress
reached the city, generally by boat, the zealous missionary at
once girded his loins and prepared to set out on his long and
arduous journey, frequently in the depth of a Nova Scotian
winter, when the snow lay two feet thick on the ground,
the thermometer was many degrees below zero, and a
cutting blast blew right in his teeth. There was not in
his mind a thought of shrinking, a second's doubt as to the
necessity of then, setting out : a human soul was in peril,
and the priest's duty was to reach the sick person's bedside
as speedily as possible ; and this he did. Twenty miles be-
fore breakfast was ' a trifle ' to Father Geary.

Within the last ten years a Nova Scotian priest has dis-
charged the duties of a district extending considerably over
one hundred miles in length ; and while I was in Halifax the
Archbishop appointed a clergyman to the charge of a mission
which would necessitate his making journeys of more than

A MARTYR TO DUTY. 17

that many miles in extent. And when a missionary priest,
in 1842, the Archbishop would make a three months'
tour from Halifax to Dartmouth, a distance — going and
returning — of 450 miles ; and would frequently diverge
ten and even twenty miles from the main line into the
bush on either side, thus doing duty for a population of
10,000 Catholics, who had no spiritual resource save in
him, and a decrepid fellow-labourer on the brink of the
grave.

It is not three years since a young Irish priest, then in
the first year of his mission, received what, to him, was
literally a death summons. He was lying ill in bed when
the 'sick call' reached his house, the pastor of the dis-
trict being absent. The poor young man did not hesitate a
moment ; no matter what the consequence to himself, the
dying Catholic should not be without the consolations
of religion. To the dismay of those who knew of his in-
tention, and who remonstrated in vain against what to
them appeared to be an act of insanity, he started on his
journey, a distance of thirty-six miles, which he accom-
plished on foot, in the midst of incessant rain. It is not
possible to tell how often he paused involuntarily on that
terrible march, or how he reeled and staggered as he
approached its termination; but this much is well ascer-
tained— that scarcely had he reached the sick man's bed,
and performed the functions of his ministry, when he was
conscious of his own approaching dissolution ; and there
being no brother priest to minister to him in his last hour,
he administered the viatacum to himself, and died on the
floor of what was then, indeed, a chamber of death. Here
was a glorious ending of a life only well begun.

Bermuda is included within the spiritual jurisdiction of
the Archbishop of Halifax, and to this fact is owing one of
the most extraordinary instances of a ' sick call ' on record.
A Catholic lady in Bermuda was dying of a lingering dis-
ease, and knowing that further delay might be attended

18 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

with consequences which she regarded as worse than death,
she availed herself of the opportunity of a vessel then about
to sail for Halifax to send for a clergyman of that city. The
day the message was delivered to the clergyman, a vessel
was to sail from Halifax to Bermuda, and he went on
board at once, arrived in due course at the latter place,
found the dying lady still alive, administered to her the
rites of the Church, and returned as soon as possible to
his duties in Halifax ; having, in obedience to this remark-
able 'sick call,' accomplished a journey of 1,600 miles.

It is the opinion of many candid and unbiassed men in
Ireland, that the existence of a State Church, and that the
church of the small minority of the population, is injurious
to the country in many respects, especially in preventing
that social fusion and Christian harmony which are among
the happy results of complete religious equality. No one
who has been in Nova Scotia but must, if not utterly
blinded by prejudice, be convinced that the non-existence
of a'State Church and a dominant religion is attended with
the most beneficial consequences to that colony. There is
no cause, no legalised cause, of hostility and ill blood, no
provocation to anger — no grievance. The Catholic feels
himself to be on an equality with the Protestant, towards
whom he does not and cannot entertain a sentiment of hos-
tility ; and the Protestant is pleased to know that his Ca-
tholic fellow-citizen regards him with a kindly and fraternal
feeling. ' We have no occasion to grumble ; we are able to
meet together and go hand in hand in all matters ; and,
in fact, we are the happiest people in the world/ said a
Catholic Irishman, whose memories of his own country
were full of bitterness, but who enjoyed the contrast the
more keenly. ' I hold the opinion,' said a Protestant gen-
tleman, the descendant of an Irish father from the south of
Minister, ' that if the followers of a church will not sustain
it, it is not worthy of being sustained, and the sooner it
falls the better.' Few perhaps of this Protestant gentle-

REAL RELIGIOUS EQUALITY. 19

man's relatives in the old country would endorse his
opinion ; but he could estimate the advantage to the social
harmony of his country of not having in the heart of the
body politic a perpetual source of mutual exasperation and
bitterness. From persons of ah1 creeds and classes I re-
ceived the most gratifying testimony as to the good feeling
existing between the different churches, and the happy re-
sult of the prevalence of this Christian sentiment. 'The
Archbishop has done much to promote this feeling,' was
frequently remarked by Protestants and Catholics, officials
and townspeople. True, the Archbishop has done much
to break down the barriers which sect will create under the
most favourable circumstances ; but had there been in
Nova Scotia a State Church, and a dominant party, sworn
to maintain it at any cost or hazard, not all the wisdom,
tact, and kindliness of so eminent and influential an eccle-
siastic as the Archbishop of Halifax could successfully
counteract the hostility these would be sure to engender.

It would be foreign to the truth to assert that Catholics
in Nova Scotia have not their difficulties to contend with.
They have difficulties and troubles, but they are in a posi-
tion in which they can endure if they cannot overcome
them. For instance, unscrupulous politicians will occa-
sionally raise an anti-Catholic cry, that for the time in-
flames the passions of the unreflecting, and disturbs the
good understanding which, as a rule, pervades the colony.
But it not unrarely occurs, that the same politician — gene-
rally a man who troubles himself but little about religion
in any form whatever — who thought it his interest to excite
ill feeling against Catholics, discovers that it is more to his
advantage to stand well with that body ; and instances are
told of the same unscrupulous party-leader one day ca-
lumniating, and the next making overtures to, those who
can at all times materially influence the result of an election,
or even the fate of an administration. Nor is this utter
dishonesty and shameless want of principle confined to a

20 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

few unscrupulous individuals in one British Colony ; it is
much to be regretted that the species — whose chief cha-
racteristic is, that they are ready to sacrifice everything,
save and except what they think to be their personal
interest, for a good 'cry' — are to be found plentifully
scattered throughout America. Even the most bankrupt
politician finds 'No Popery!' a useful cry — for the time;
for the good sense of the community wearies of the folly,
or the politician has probably invented something which
has the merit of novelty, and he allows Catholics to exist in
peace.

The Irish, including Protestants and Catholics, are
estimated at 100,000. The larger proportion of the Protes-
tants were originally from the north of Ireland, or had
left the United States after they had achieved their
independence ; and their descendants now possess nearly
the whole of the counties of Colchester and Cumberland.
They took up most of the lands from which the French
Acadians were banished in the year 1755. That they
should be prosperous and independent is consistent not only
with the sturdy energy of their nature, but with the coun-
tenance and support which they received from the colonial
authorities and home government. "With them, as with
their brethren in all the British colonies, things went
favourably : not so with the Catholics, who had much to
contend with, and everything to do for themselves.

A striking proof of the position of Irish Catholics in
Nova Scotia — to which the vast majority emigrated under
the most unfavourable circumstances — may be mentioned ;
namely, that of the 2,000 Catholic voters in the city and
county of Halifax, all, or nearly all, own over 50Z. of real
estate, and but very few of them claim the franchise
through the annual payment of a rent of 50/. and upwards.

PICTOU. MY FRIEND PETER. 21

The necessity of taking- passage at Pictou for Prince
Edward's Island brought me to that town, which is prettily
situated on the shore of the harbour. The Irish do not,
at least as vet, form any considerable proportion of the
population, the Catholic congregation being little more
than one hundred in number. But it would be difficult to
behold anywhere a more remarkable instance of generous
devotion to their faith than the Catholic Irish have dis-
played in this place, where they are so numerical!^ weak.
To the stranger entering the harbour the most striking
object is a well-built brick church, with lofty spire sur-
mounted by a gilded cross. This imposing structure — the
first actually built in the town, though a handsome
Protestant chnrch was being erected in the October of
1866 — is the work of the small Catholic congregation,
whose zeal and liberality may be estimated from the fact
that it has cost about 2,00(M., the greatest portion of which
was supplied from their own narrow resources. In an

honest compatriot, Peter C , to whom I speedily became

known, I saw the type of the true-hearted Irishman, who
not only maintained the character of his faith by his own
conduct, but would make any sacrifice for the honour of
his church. Peter, commencing with little indeed, had
worked his way with resolute energy, and was then a pros-
perous man, with something laid by for the rainy day. The
new church, which the Archbishop was to consecrate in a
few days after my departure, was the delight of Peter's
heart ; and from Peter I heard how grandly the little con-
gregation responded to the appeal of their pastor, who, his
Glengarry blood notwithstanding, had the face of a Spanish
saint. Peter gloried in the site, at once beautiful and
commanding — in the solid well-made bricks, and the manner
in which they were laid — in the buttresses, whidh he patted
with a caressing hand, as if he were encouraging them to do
their duty faithfully ; but, above all, in the steeple, which
could be seen far and wide. 'I collected 100/. myself

22 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

from Protestants for it ; and what is more, they helped to
clear the foundations, which was done in a single day. 'Tis
the blessed truth I'm telling you/ said my friend Peter,
with emphatic triumph.

Peter, like all sober and steady Irishmen whom I have
met with in America, had a keen relish for ' real estate,'
and being already possessed of an odd ' lot ' here and there,
he had his eye on other bits in convenient sites, — I shall
not say where, as in that case I should be deliberately
violating the promise of strict secrecy imposed on me
as the condition of his unreserved confidence. I trust
Peter will have gratified the object of his honest ambition
before these pages reach Pictou ; but if not, he may feel
sure that the identical ' bits ' will never be even indicated
by me either to friend or foe.

Among the lions — the live lions — of Pictou to whom I
was duly introduced by Peter, was the American Consul,
and a most agreeable lion he proved to be ; courteous and
kindly, as all true American gentlemen are. The Major,
for such was his rank, evidently held Peter in high esteem,
and Peter repaid the Major's good opinion of him with
liberal interest. Peter had previously held out to me the
hope, based indeed on his own confident belief, that the
Major would be good enough to favour me with an inspec-
tion of the many strange and curious things which he had
collected, and w7hich had more than once excited Peter's
unaffected amazement. I was of course humbly hopeful
that, through my friend's influence, I should be deemed
worthy of so great a favour, though possessing only the
questionable claim of a stranger and a traveller. The in-
troduction effected, the application, made with modest
boldness by Peter, met with instant success. 'Didn't I
tell you ho'w it would be?' whispered Peter, as we stood
in the presence of the accumulated wonders. A nod,
which eloquently expressed c You did, sure enough,' was
received by Peter as a satisfactory reply. The collection

PETER SHOWS ME THE LIONS. H:J

was really interesting, embracing many natural curiosities,
including fossils, shells, minerals, reptiles, animals, birds,
fishes, teeth of extinct animals, implements of savage
warfare, evidences of by-gone civilisation, and a variety of
other matters. All these wonders were explained and
rendered intelligible to his visitors by the Major, who
favoured us with a sufficient account of each. Peter's
genuine admiration as he listened to the Consul, and then
glanced at me, as if to witness the effect produced on my
mind by the tooth of the megatherium, or the fossil with
the impression of a plant, a shell, or a reptile, was every
moment becoming warmer and more explosive. His 'Oh,
Major!' grew more and more enthusiastic; but when the
owner of the treasures exhibited in glass jars the various
products derived from a particular description of coal, and
Peter was assured that all those beautiful colours were
produced by chemical action from a lump of coal such as
he held in his hand, his 'Oh, Major!' was largely tinged
with awe. He frankly declared that he had never seen
the like in all his life, and was profuse in his acknowledg-
ments for the kindness which, at his influential request, had
been conferred on his friend, my unworthy self. The Major
pleasingly varied the intellectual treat with refreshment of
more material kind, to which neither Peter nor his com-
panion proved insensible.

Under Peter's competent guidance, I sauntered through
the town and rambled along the shore, and, with Peter as
my companion, I sat on a piece of timber within a few feet
of the water, which murmured in the tiniest wavelets 011
the beach, scarcely moved by the soft air of the Indian
Summer, that harmonised deliciously with the exquisite
colour of the sky, in which grey and blue were blended
into an indescribable tint of loveliness ; and while the sea
murmured as it kissed the beach, and the soft air brought
with it a sense of mental repose, I listened to Peter, who
told of his trials and difficulties bravely met and manfully

24 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

overcome, and gave me the benefit of his shrewdly ex-
pressed opinions on his race, their many virtues, their few
but dangerous defects. 'This is a fine country for any
man thatrs inclined to work, and able to work, and it's a
man's own fault if he won't get along, and be respected,
no matter who or what he is ; but it's a bitter bad place
for the drunkard anyhow, whether there is a good place
for him in any country, which I am not sure there is,'
added Peter doubtingly. Peter had an eye for tho
picturesque and beautiful as well as for choice bits of real
estate, and was fond of the views to be seen from various
points. Seated in Peter's comfortable 'trap,' gallantly
bowled along by his well-trained and vigorous horse
* Charley/ I enjoyed many charming pictures of land and
water, enhanced not a little by my companion's intelligent
comments on men and things.

Peter insisted that I should not think of leaving Pictou
without visiting what he held to be one of the wonders of
the world — the mines at New Glasgow, at the other side of
the harbour ; and having nothing better to do, I closed with
his offer to accompany me in my first subterranean adven-
ture. So up at six, breakfast at seven, on board at eight,
at New Glasgow in an hour after, and then on to the
mines. As we crossed the harbour, Peter's glance rested
lovingly on the red-brick church, the gleaming windows,
the tall spire, and the glittering cross. 'Well, surely, it
does look beautiful, out and out ; and only to think how
few of us there were to do it! Glory be to the Lord! It
seems wonderful,' said Peter.

Arrived at the Albion Mine, permission to visit which
had been previously obtained, Peter and I assumed the re-
quisite but unbecoming ^costume, and were in rapid yet
easy descent, under the cautious guidance of the head
banksman, an Irishman from Wexford. To one who goes
down into a mine for the first time, the aspect of every-
thing in a quite new world is necessarily strange, and even

AT THE MimCS— IRISHMEN EVERYWHERE. 25

startling. The meteoric lights, the long and murky gal-
leries, the lofty chambers faintly illumined and replete
with dense shadows, the rattle of the cars, the cries of the
drivers, the stroke of the pick, and the other noises of a
coal mine in active work — ah1 produce for the moment a
bewildering effect. Below as well as above were Irishmen
employed in every capacity, the majority engaged in the
ordinary manual labour, but not a few entrusted with posi-
tions of responsibility, or employed in work of a higher
class. The manager, Mr. Hudson, spoke of them in terms
of praise, as steady, industrious, sober, and trustworthy.
'There is a man,' said the manager, 'who came here a
labourer ; he has charge of property worth several thou-
sand pounds. If he was not a good man, he would not be
in that position. That man, like many more of his coun-
trymen, has brought up a family with great care; and
the young people are now profitably employed, some as
engineers^ some in other skilled branches.' Go in what
direction I might, I met with a countryman. To an emi-
grant of eighteen years back I imparted the latest tidings
from Dunmanway, in Cork county; to a 'boy' of thirty
from Connemara I was able to communicate the agreeable
intelligence that his old Parish Priest was 'alive and
hearty,' which was received with 'more of that to him;'
and on assuring another ' boy,' not long from ' sweet Tippe-
rary,' that the 'members stood by the people in Parlia-
ment,' he prayed 'that the Lord might strengthen their
endeavours, for, faith, the poor people wanted friends, sure
enough.' The Irish took great pride in the celebrity of
the mine, and the amazing depth of its working seam,
over 44 feet ; which was to be ' shows to the world ' at the
Paris Exhibition by the pillar, 37 feet 10 inches in height,
which was hewed from this magnificent bed of coal. They
were as proud of that pillar as if they were the owners of
the mine.

Owing to the * increasing number of Catholics at the

2

26 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

mines — for there are several others, including the Albion
and the Acadian, the latter the property of an American
company — an addition was being made to the Catholic
Church, which is conveniently and conspicuously placed ;
nor is it improbable that, in a few years hence, when this
mining parish is more perfectly organised, a fine building
of brick and stone will replace the neat structure now
barely sufficient for its congregation.

In the presence of Peter, and much to the delight of
that enthusiastic Irishman, a Scotch gentleman gave an
admirable account of our countrymen. Peter glanced at
me with a look of radiant triumph, and demanded, in a
manner at once corroborative and clinching — 'Didn't I
tell you, sir, there wasn't a single blackguard amongst
the entire of them ? ' And Peter might well speak with
authority, for he knew or was known to nearly every man
in the district.

Peter was anxious that I should pay a visit of courtesy
to a friend of his in Pictou, but appeared to be somewhat
doubtful as to my compliance with his wishes. 'To tell
you the truth,' said Peter, with an air of no little mystery,
as we were again crossing the harbour, ' he is an Orange-
man, or something of that kind, any how ; but he's from
your own part, and I know he'd be glad to see you — indeed
he let me learn as much from himself. 'Tis true, he's not
one of ourselves, but he's a mighty decent honest man still.'
Much relieved by the genuine readiness I expressed to
meet ' the Orangeman, but a mighty decent honest man/
our return trip was rendered additionally pleasant to Peter,
who enjoyed the appearance of the church on the hill-side
with more than usual satisfaction. I paid the promised
visit to the sturdy Protestant from Bandon ; and not even
from Peter himself could I receive a more cordial welcome
than from the former inhabitant of that famous borough.
The whole family, parents and children — the latter ini Dili-
gent and nicely reared — were glad to see one from the o]d

A FAMILY PARTY. NOVA SCOTIA. 27

country. This 'Orangeman, but mighty decent honest
man/ brought with him but his industry and skill as a boot-
maker ; but being steady, sober, and honest, he was doing
an excellent business, and employing several hands. His
neat drawing-room, with its piano and pile of music, bore
the most pleasing testimony to the comfort and taste of the
family.

One other visit I made under the auspices of my friend
Peter. That was to the Poor-house, which offered a
remarkable contrast to similar institutions at home. It
contained four inmates ! who formed quite a cosy family
party, and seemed to take the world and all its troubles,
including the vexed question of Confederation, with philo-
sophical indifference, or, as Peter expressed it, 'mighty
easy.' A fair percentage of such poor-houses would con-
stitute an agreeable variety in Ireland. The snug family
party of four spoke well for the material condition of this
part of Nova Scotia ; and if it did not prove the existence
of great commercial activity, it at least indicated the
absence of real poverty.

At a late hour at night I went on board the steamer for
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and the last hand I

clasped ere I bade adieu to Pictou, was that of Peter C ,

who, if allowed to have his own way, would have placed
his 'particular friend' in charge of everybody in the
ship, from the captain to the captain's 'boy.' Indeed, so
considerate was Peter, that, had I only consented to the
process, I believe he would have had me labelled as wrell
as my baggage. In the last moment I voluntarily re-
newed my promise, that I would not disclose to mortal
man the slightest information as to the 'bits of ground'
upon which Peter had reposed his speculative eye.

Of Nova Scotia, as a home for the emigrant, it is
necessary to write in guarded terms. It has the power of
absorbing a considerable amount of labour, skilled and
unskilled ; but it is not, like other of the British colonies,

28 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

or the States, capable of withstanding a rush. There waa
a want of labour in Halifax in the autumn of 1866 ; and
in other parts of the province an addition to the labour
supply would have been hailed with satisfaction. Nova
Scotia does not present the same inducements to the
settler that are offered in New Brunswick or Western
Canada; still, there is land, even cultivated land, always
to be had at reasonable prices. There seems to be
a habit of change common to humanity generally at
the "Western side of the Atlantic. This does not arise
either from caprice or unsteadiness, but from a desire to
do better; in fact, to take advantage of opportunities
wrhich a new and yet undeveloped country constantly
offers to the enterprising and adventurous. Thus the man
who has cleared a farm — literally hewed it out of the
forest, hears of something likely to suit him better, and
he does not long hesitate about putting his farm in the
market, and selling it at a fair price. Or his sons, yield-
ing to the spirit of adventure so common to the youth of
the country, have gone to sea, or migrated to Canada or
the States, and the father has thus lost the physical means
of working his land ; and he also sells, in order to realise
his capital, and perhaps go into some other business. Thus,
by this constant process of change, the path is opened to
the new comer, who has only to save a little money, bide
his time, and seize the wished-for opportunity of becoming
the proprietor -of so much land in fee-simple, to have and
to hold for ever.

The tendency of the young people, not of Nova Scotia
alone, but of most of the British colonies, is to push on to
the States. Better employment — perhaps more nominal
than real — and a wider field for their energies, appear to
be the inducements that lure adventurous youth from the
natural attractions of home.

CHAPTER II.

Prince Edward Island — How the Irish came — Visit to an Irish
Settlement— Prosperity of the Irish— A Justice of the Peace —
The Land Question— What the Tenant claims — The Tenant
League and the Government — • Confiscation ' profitable to the
Government, and beneficial to the People — A Scotch Bishop's
testimony to the Irish — The Irish and their Pastors— The Sisters
of Notre Dame— A graceful Gift.

ONE of the smallest, certainly not the least interesting,
of the British colonies of North America is that of
Prince Edward Island. Though not exceeding in super-
ficial area the size of an ordinary Irish county, and actually
not more than two-thirds that of the county of Cork,
with a population not greater than that of the city of
Cork, this beautiful little island enjoys the advantages of
free representative institutions, and a system of govern-
ment based upon popular suffrage and amenable to
popular control. The authority of the Crown is repre-
sented by a Lieutenant-Go vernor ; while in the House of
Assembly the leading parties into which the political
world of the colony is divided have their recognised
leaders and accredited organs. To such an extent is this
carried, that the gentleman to whom the party out of
office delegates, either formally or by tacit assent, the
privilege of speaking in its name, is described in the
' Parliamentary Reporter' (the * Hansard3 of Prince Ed-
ward Island), and referred to in debate, as 'the Leader
of the Opposition ' — the Gladstone or the D'Israeli of
the colony. It is not, however, with the institutions of
the island this work has to do; but this bare allusion to
the form of government which its inhabitants enjoy will
be found necessary when noticing a movement of rather
an important character, fraught with consequences of no

30 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

small moment to the future of a people whose main resource
lies in the produce of their fertile soil.

To the general population of Prince Edward Island
the Irish bear a considerable proportion ; and not only
are they to be found in the principal towns, and scattered
over the face of the island, mixed up with the other
nationalities — French, Scotch, and English — of which the
population is composed, but they form settlements of their
own, exclusively Irish in race and Catholic in creed.

People rarely migrate to a strange country, and face the
hardships incidental to a new existence, from the mere love
of change; nor do the comfortable and the well-to-do
usually quit their agreeable homes from a spirit of adven-
ture. Necessity is the grand stimulus which impels the
European to sever with rude hand his old ties of home
and kindred, and quit his native land to cross the ocean
in search of a new home. Of all people in the world the
Irish are — or rather were — most intensely, even passionately,
attached to the land of their birth, and the least willing
to leave it for another country, whatever its attractions.
But the mass of the Irish who quitted the shores of the
old country had no • choice left them : what the process of
law, too often accompanied with the pomp and parade of
armed force, but partially effected, was accomplished by
the resistless influence of blight, famine, and pestilence.
These were the chief impelling causes of that rush across
the ocean which has been one of the" most extraordinary
phenomena of the present century, and which may yet
bring about events well worthy of the gravest consideration
of the patriot and the statesman.

A wave of this tide of human life broke upon the shores
of Prince Edward Island, over whose fair and fertile
bosom were scattered thousands of men and women, the
majority of them poor, pinched with hunger, scantily
clad ; but hardy, patient, enduring, and willing to toil.
A few, a very few, brought with them a little capital,

VISIT TO AN IRISH SETTLEMENT. 31

perhaps half a dozen pounds, probably not more than as
many dollars; whereas the majority had scarcely suffi-
cient to purchase their first meal on landing. 'For one
who has come out with a dollar, ten have come out with a
shilling,' says the estimable Bishop of Charlotte town, Dr.
Mclntyre, a mild and genial Scotchman, who loves and
is loved by his Irish flock. Many of those who thus
commenced had been flung on shore from fever-infected
emigrant ships in the time of the Irish Famine, and,
scattering over the island, had worked their way by honest
labour to the position of independent settlers, even owners
in fee of the farms they now occupy.

Wishing to see for myself one or two of the Irish settle-
ments, so as to form a more correct estimate of the actual
position of my countrymen in their new home, I readily
availed myself of the kindness of one of the shrewdest and
ablest of the merchants of Charlottetown* — whose capital,
when he arrived from Ireland, consisted of a good practical
education, keen intelligence, and high principle, and who
is now admitted to be one of the ablest and most prosperous
among the business men of the island. Through his kind-
ness I was enabled to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion
on a subject which to me was one of the deepest interest.
From a very early hour in the morning to the dusk of the
evening — with the aid of a strong horse, a light vehicle,
and a well-informed guide, who knew every inch of the
road, and was acquainted with almost every person whom
we met during our prolonged tour — I was engaged in
visiting and inspecting two Irish settlements, occasionally
entering a farm-house, or field in which the work of har-
vesting was still going on, and speaking with its hospitable
and industrious owner. Confining myself to a single set-
tlement— that of Monaghan — I shall state the result of my
observations.

The Monaghan settlers, to use the expression of one

* The Hon. Daniel Brennan.

32 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

who knew them well, 'had not a sixpence in their pockets
when they landed.' But they took 'green- wood farms/ or
tracts of land entirely covered with forest, not a rood of
which was cleared when they entered into their occupation.
Selecting the most convenient position for his future home,
the adventurous settler erected .his little log cabin, and
having secured that shelter for himself, and perhaps for
his family, he commenced to chop away at the trees which
overshadowed his lowly dwelling, until the semblance of a
field — rather an opening in the forest studded with tree
stumps — rewarded his industry, and stimulated him to still
greater efforts. By working occasionally for the near-
est farmers, the settlers were enabled to purchase pro-
visions and other necessaries during the first months of
their arduous struggle. The next year they burned the
timber which they had previously cut down, and used
their ashes for manure, and round the stumps of what had
been monarchs of the forest, they planted their first crop
of potatoes ; the following year wheat was added to their
harvest, and in a few years they began to have a farm —
not, it is true, without hard work, and, occasionally, bitter
privation ; but the prize — glorious independence — was well
worth contending for, while its possession amply com-
pensated for toil and hardship of every kind. These same
men who, as a rule, began 'without a sixpence in their
pockets,' were then in the possession of 100 acres of land
each, with from 50 to 70 acres cleared — much, of the land
not exhibiting the faintest trace of a tree having ever
grown upon it, while the recently cleared portion and the
still living forest showed that the island had not long
before worn one prevailing livery of green, only varied in
shade by the character of the timber and the nature of its
foliage. The Monaghan settlers had long since passed
the log-cabin stage, and were occupying substantial and
commodious frame houses, with suitable offices ; and most
of them — these Irishmen, who had begun the fight 'without

PROSPERITY OP THE IRISH. 33

a sixpence in their pocket ' — had brought up their families
with care and in respectability, could drive to church on
Sunday in a well-appointed wagon, with a good horse, or
a pair of good horses, and probably had what they would
call 'a little money' laid by in the bank.

As a rule, admitting of only a rare exception, I did not
for the entire day — during a circuit of nearly sixty miles
— see a single habitation that was not decent in appear-
ance or that did not evince an air of neatness and comfort.
All were constructed of timber ; but they were well glazed,
well roofed, and kept as white and clean as lime or paint
could render them. "We must have seen hundreds of
farm-houses during our ten hours' tour ; and I can safely
assert I did not perceive more than half a dozen which be-
trayed indications of poverty, or which exhibited an appear-
ance of squalor ; and these latter, I am happy to say, were
not occupied by the Irish. Substantial comfort was the
prevailing characteristic of dwelling and farm building;
and cattle and horses and sheep grazed upon broad acres
from which the stumps had been lately cleared. And
where the forest no longer offered a shelter to the house,
or a background to the picture of rural comfort, a cluster
of trees, judiciously spared from the levelling axe, or de-
liberately planted, afforded a pleasing variety to the aye. It
too frequently happens in countries which have been re-
cently reclaimed from the wilderness of the forest, war is
so relentlessly waged against trees of every kind, which, so
long as they interfere with the free use of the plough, are
simply regarded as a nuisance, that an air of barrenness,
even of desolation, is imparted to the landscapes ; and
after the lapse of some time, the farmer, whether repenting
of his desolating vigour, or longing for the shade or shelter
of the tree, plants round his dwelling, or the enclosure in
which it stands, those beautiful objects, which add a charm
and a beauty to the abode of man.

There are people at home who regard the position of the

34 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

farmer who is without ' capital ' as desperate. With them
capital — their capital, which is always money — is the one
thing necessary, and without which all else is worthless. It
were well if these narrow-minded philosophers- had an op-
portunity of estimating at its right value the greatest, the
grandest capital of which man could be possessed, especi-
ally in a new country, in which nothing has been done, and
in which everything is yet to be done. Here is the green
forest, the home of the squirrel or the wild cat. For the
purposes of human life, of man's enjoyment, that green,
forest is unavailing. Without the labour of man not all
the money in Threadneedle Street or Wall Street will
suffice to convert that verdant wilderness into pasture or
arable land. The energy, the industry, the endurance of
man — of the penniless, or it may be the despised, emigrant,
— these are worth any number of millions of money. Lack
these, and silver and gold are as worthless as dross, as
valueless as if they lay in the depths of the mine, or were
still incorporated with their rocky matrix. Those Irish
emigrants who landed in Prince Edward Island forty,
thirty, or twenty years since, had to go into the forest and
fight their way, rood by rood, acre by acre, and win their
daily bread by ceaseless labour, until field was added to
field, and the encircling forest was driven back by the re-
sistless force of human energy — by the power of the same
God-giving capital which is as capable of making the old
country — the natural home of that hardy, patient, and
laborious race — bloom like a garden, as it is of hewing
abundance, beauty, and civilsation out of the wilderness
in other lands.

In no one proof of progress or evidence of solid and
substantial comfort were the Irish settlers behind their
Scotch or English or native-born neighbours. Their land
was in as good condition, there was as great activity in
clearing, their cattle were as numerous and as valuable,
their hay and their potatoes were as good and as abundant ;

A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. 35

there was not even the suspicion of inferiority in any
respect whatever, whether of capacity or in success.

I had the satisfaction of seeing the interior of several
of the dwellings of my countrymen — men who were in-
debted wholly to their industry and energy for all that
they possessed ; and the interior in no way belied the
promise of the exterior. Homely comfort was the pre-
vailing characteristic. In Ireland tnese men would be
described as ' warm farmers/ or ' strong farmers/ Not a
few of them had bought the foe-simple of their farms at a.
moderate price, and they then held them by a title as good
as that by which Queen Victoria holds her crown. Were
there nothing in the name or in the manner of the settler
to denote his origin, the little library — the dozen or twenty
of Irish books — stirring prose or passionate poetry — would
be evidence sufficient of his nationality. The wrongs, the
sorrows, the ancient glories, the future hopes of Ireland —
these are the most acceptable themes to the expatriated
children of the Irish race.

There was life and bustle in every direction, the farmers
being hard at work getting in their potatoes, which were
large and perfectly sound ; and in this agreeable work men
and women were actively engaged.

' Come/ said my companion, ' let us look in upon a friend
of mine, who by the way is from your part of the country.
He is a justice of the peace too.'

Passing through a- spacious enclosure we arrived at the
house, a well-built, comfortable-looking dwelling, where
we found the wife of its owner, a comely kindly matron,
with all the natural courtesy of her country. To the en-
quiry ' Where was himself ? ' she replied that he was ' out
with the boys, getting in the potatoes.' We proceeded in
search of the master of the house, and had not gone far
when we saw a sturdy strong-built man of middle age
leading a strong horse with a cart-load of potatoes, full-
sized and of healthy purple hue. He was one of the many

36 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

thousands of his countrymen who landed on the shores of
America without a pound in their possession. Like them,
his capital consisted in his strength, his intelligence, and
his capacity for labour ; and so successfully had he employed
his capital that, as he was leading his horse into his spacious
farm-yard that day, he was an independent man, not owing
a shilling in the world, and having a round sum in the
bank. Rubbing his clay-covered hands in a little straw,
and giving them a final touch on the sleeve of his working
coat, he favoured me with a vigorous grasp, such as would
have crippled the fingers of a fine gentleman ; then, after
having offered us a hearty welcome, and a cordial invi-
tation to partake of his hospitality, he fondly enquired
after the dear old country. He was greatly 'put out'
when he learned that we could not stop — that we had to
return to Charlotte town before night set i$. ' Not stop !
Oh, that's too bad entirely ! Not take pot luck ! not even
wet your mouth ! Oh my ! oh my ! that's hard ! Well
now, I'm ashamed of you to treat a man so.' But go we
should ; not, however, before the brief story of his early
struggles and their crowning success was had from his own
lips.

What a contrast did his air and manner offer to that of
the Irish farmer in one particular — in its manly inde-
pendence of bearing. At home, the tenant is not — at
least in too many instances is not — certain of his tenure,
of his possession or occupancy of tha land which he cul-
tivates, and for which he pays a rent that is absolutely
incredible to the farmer of Prince Edward Island — indeed
of America throughout ; and manly bearing and inde-
pendence of spirit are scarcely to be expected in his case :
possibly any special manifestation of their existence might
not be prudent or beneficial. Quite otherwise with his
countryman in this little colony, who cannot be disturbed
in his possession of his farm so long as he pays the rent —
about tenpence the British per acre ; or who has bought it

THK LAND QUESTION. 37

out, and feels that lie stands upon his own property, of
which he is the undisputed owner : therefore, while clad
in his homely working suit, with the red soil sticking to
his strong shoes, and his hands rough with honest toil, he
looks at you, and speaks to you, as a man should address
his fellow man, with modest dignity and self-respect.

Strange that in this, one of the smallest of British colo-
nies, very grave and important problems, involving the
most cherished of the so-called ' rights of property/ should
be practically solved in a manner not only in accordance
with the universal public sentiment, but with the sanction
of the representatives alike of the people and the Crown.

From the days of the Gracchi to the present hour, the
land question — the occupancy or possession of the soil —
has been a fruitful source of turmoil and embarrassment.
It was so in ancient Eome ; it was one of the causes of the
most tremendous social convulsions of modern times ; and,
because of the deep interests it involved, it is destined to
play a conspicuous part in popular movements in favour
of fundamental changes. Leaving the shores of Ireland,
where the land question is the one which most stirs the
heart of its people, I cross the Atlantic, and reach a small
island of which not very many in the old country have
ever heard; and, to my amazement, I find this irrepres-
sible land question the question of the colony, though for
the moment absorbed in the more immediate and pressing
topics of Confederation or Non-Confederation. I had sup-
posed that a 'Tenant League' was one of those things of
which I had probably heard the last, at least for some time
to come ; but I learn with no little surprise that the most
troublesome movement, or organisation, which Prince
Edward Island had witnessed within recent years was
known by that title, and that its origin was owing to a
systematic opposition to the payment of rent. The Irish
demand, during the existence of its Tenant League, never
went beyond 'fixity of tenure,' possession of the land by

38 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the tenant so long as he fulfilled his primary obligation of
paying his stipulated rent.

Struck by the similarity of the name, I enquired of an
intelligent Mend what were the exact objects of the colo-
nial organisation.

'Oh,' replied my friend, 'it was a combination to get
rid of rent : the people here don't Like the notion of pay-
ing rent; they are not satisfied until they have the land
in their own possession.' The answer was calculated to put
my moderate opinions to the blush.

' Then I suppose the rents are rather oppressive ? What
are they on the average ? '

'As for that, the rent is but a shilling an acre.'

'A what?' said I.

' A shilling an acre — yes, a shilling an acre/ was the tran-
quil reply, made as much in answer to my stare of astonish-
ment as to the exclamation with which it was accompanied.

' Why how, in the name of common sense, could any one
object to such a rent as that — a rent inconceivably small
to one coming from a country where the rent per acre is
twenty times, thirty times, even fifty times, nay, in some
instances, nearly one hundred times greater ? '

' Well, as compared to rents in the old country, it is no
doubt low ; but you see the tenants took the land in its
wilderness state, and they had to do everything to it to make
it what it now is. And the rent, small as it may appear
to you — 51. the 100 acres — comes heavy enough ; and when
there are arrears falling due besides, it is a serious thing I
can tell you. But small or large, our people have an aver-
sion to paying rent ; they want to have the land their own,
and they are willing to pay a fair price for it too.'

A shilling an acre ! I could scarcely realise to my mind
the idea of this being a burden, or its payment a griev-
ance ; still to many the burden was felt to be intolerable,
and the grievance one of real magnitude. And, as the
strangest confirmation of the existence of this feeling, there

WHAT THE TENANT CLAIMS. 39

is the policy of the leading public men of the colony, which
is to free the actual cultivators from the obligation of rent-
paving, by converting the occupying tenant into a fee-
simple proprietor. Already much had been done in pur-
suance of this popular policy. Extensive properties — mostly
held by absentees — had been purchased by the State, and
resold to the occupiers on easy terms, ranging from 5s.
to 10s. or 128. per acre. The last great property thus pur-
chased by the Government, with the view of being re-
sold, belonged to the representatives of the late Sir Samuel
Cunard. It consisted of 212,000 acres, partly reclaimed
and partly in the wilderness state, and was sold for 53,OOOZ.
British money ; the purchase money including a consider-
able sum in arrears, generously flung into the bargain, or
indeed practically given up. There being no difference of
opinion with respect to the policy of converting tenancy into
fee-simple proprietorship, and the only dispute being as to
the best or speediest mode by which this conversion can be
accomplished, it is probable that a short time will be
sufficient to bring about a satisfactory solution of the
' difficulty ' which has its origin in the Land Question of
Prince Edward Island.

If the claim to be released from the obligation of pay-
ing rent could in any case be regarded as fair and equit-
able, it would be so when urged by the cultivators of
Prince Edward Island ; as it was they, and they alone, who
by their labour changed the whole face of the country, re-
deeming it from the forest which at no distant time covered
the land from shore to shore. About one hundred years
ago the island was parcelled out to about as many pro-
prietors, on certain specified conditions, the principal of
which was, to procure settlers, with a view to the cultiva-
tion of the soil and the population of the colony, and also
to pay quit rent to the Crown. These obligations, the
conditions on which the estates were originally granted,
were generally disregarded ; to such an extent, indeed,

40 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

were they disregarded, that some forfeitures were made;
and these forfeitures would have been extensively enforced
had not the defaulting proprietors sufficient influence with
the Home Government to retain their property, notwith-
standing that they had failed in many and flagrant in-
stances to redeem their part of the original compact. So
little was done in the way of obtaining settlers, that at the
commencement of the present century the population of
the whole island did not exceed 6,000 souls ; and it was
not until the year 1830-35 that any extensive emigration
from the United Kingdom took place. In 1832 the popula-
tion was 32,000 ; it was 80,552 by the last census ; and in 1866
it was rather triumphantly estimated at or near 90,000.

About two years since, the anti-rent feeling resolved it-
self into an active organisation, having its centre in Char-
lottetown, the capital and seat of government. Who were
its leaders, or by whom it was originated, is of little con-
sequence to know. I have heard it stated that the Irish
were not among its active promoters in the first instance,
the English and Scotch settlers taking the lead. But the
Irish were soon drawn into the League, as they sympathised
heartily with its object, which was not so much to abolish
the payment of rent, as to compel the proprietors to sell
their estates on fair terms. Passive resistance was even-
tually adopted in certain districts, the representatives of
the civil power being coolly set at defiance, or rather
laughed at by the sturdy colonists. Seeing the inability of
the civil force to cope with what a prosecuting crown lawyer
would describe as ' a conspiracy against property at once
wide-spread and formidable,' it was deemed advisable to
send to the main land for two companies of infantry, there
not then being a single soldier in the colony. Backed by
this armed force, the law was vindicated, a few individuals
being made the victims of their bold resistance, or legal
indiscretion. The Tenant League came to an end ; but as
proof that the feeling in which it had it $ origin was still

THE TENANT LEAGUE AND THE GOVERNMENT. 41

potent, inasmuch as it really represented the universal
sentiment of the colony, an extract or two from the public
records may be useful,

On the 9th of April, 18G6, the Lieutenant-Governor,
when opening the legislative session, used these words in
in his ' speech.'

The general prosperity of the past year has been marred by the
civil disturbances which took place in several parts of this colony.
Misled by ignorant or designing men, tenants were induced to form
themselves into an association with the avowed intention of withholding
payment of their rents, unless their landlords consented to sell their
lands on such terms as this association chose to dictate.

The law was openly and systematically set at defiance, and it became
necessary to use extraordinary measures to enforce it. A requisition
was therefore made for a detachment of Her Majesty's troops, to aid the
civil power, and the authority of the law has been firmly and impar-
tially maintained.

But, as if to show that the popular demand was not
devoid of reason and justice, his Excellency made the fol-
lowing important announcement : —

' I have recently concluded the purchase of anothei* estate
'from one of the proprietors. It is my intention to continue to
1 buy out the rights of the landowners, whenever I am enabled to
1 do so on reasonable terms.'

And on the llth of May, when the short session was
formally closed, the representative of the Crown thus pro-
claimed the triumph, if not of the League, at least of the
popular demand : —

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly :

' The measure by which you have extended my powers
' of purchasing land, has my hearty concurrence ; and I trust
c that, under its provisions, / may be enabled to purchase large
' estates from the proprietors.''

In the ' debate on the address ' many things were said on
both sides of the House which would have been in the last
degree startling if uttered in the senate-chamber of the
mother country. A few extracts will suffice.

42 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

First from the Hon. Mr. Coles, the Leader of the Oppo-
sition, who, referring to a proposition made by the late
Duke of Newcastle, as Colonial Minister, says : —

The Duke's own proposals, however, ought to have satisfied the
Government. His scheme was that if a tenant had regularly paid
his rent, under his lease, for 16 years, he should be entitled to the
freehold of his farm at 16 years' purchase ; if for 10 years, for 10
years' purchase ; and if for 8 years, for 8 years' purchase ; that was
according to the actual interest which the proprietor had in the
leasehold, as evidenced by the amount of rent which he had received
on account of it. At the time it was submitted he thought the
scheme was a fair one, and he thought so still ; but our Government
thought otherwise, rejected it, and brought forward and carried their
Fifteen Years' Purchase Bill.

The Solicitor-Gi-eneral, the official organ of the Govern-
ment, defends the Fifteen Years' Purchase Bill, which,
though derided for its shortcomings by the Leader of the
Opposition, would be regarded in the British House of
Commons as a measure of sweeping confiscation worthy
of the French Revolution, or the days of Jack Cade. That
learned gentleman says : —

In every Session of the Legislature since the passage of the Fifteen
Years' Purchase Bill have the Opposition assailed the Government, on
the assumed grounds that that Bill was no boon to the tenantry, was
unacceptable to a majority of them, and could not by any possibility
be made advantageous to them. He, however, confidently maintained
that the Bill was a handsome instalment of all the benefits promised
to the tenantry, by the party in power, through legislative action
with respect to the Land Question. By means of it large arrears of
rent have been expunged from the books of proprietors, and declared
irrecoverable, as against all tenants who shall avail themselves of the
provisions of the Sill for the purchase of the fee-simple of their farms,
Whilst the tenants' improvements were in existence they were a suffi-
cient security for the recovery of all arrears of rent. On one-third
of Lot 34, the property of Sir E. Cunard, the tenants by having
availed themselves of the advantages extended to them by that Bill,
had had over 1,OOOZ. of arrears wiped off. every farthing of which
could have been recovered by the proprietor, because the tenants
were, in reality, men of wealth. It was the same on the Sullivan
property. There were many tenants upon the estates affected by the

' CONFISCATION • PROFITABLE TO THE GOVERNMENT. 43

Fifteen Years' Purchase Bill, to whom, before the passing of it, the pro-
prietors would not consent to sell the fee-simple of their farms, even at
20s. or 30s. per acre ; but those proprietors were now compelled to part
with the fee-simple of their leased lands at 15 years' purchase.

"With the following passage from the speech of the Hon.
J. C. Pope, who must be described as the Prime Minister
of this sufficiently-governed colony, these extracts may be
closed. Nor is it the least significant of the entire. He
shows that the purchase and re-sale of the great properties
has been a paying speculation for the Government ; and
he adds his official testimony to the universality of the
feeling in favour of the conversion .of tenancies into fee-
simple — or, as he emphatically expresses it, ' the freeing of
the country from the burden of the leasehold or rent-paying
system.'

' Nearly ah1 the money which the Conservatives have ex-
cpended in the purchase of proprietary estates has been
'refunded. Every estate which we have bought has proved
1 a paying speculation. We have had a profit- upon every
' one of them. I think the Government will be justified in
'purchasing oil the estates they can, and carrying on, as
' quickly as possible, the freeing of the country from the bur-
c then of the leasehold or rent-paying system; and whether
'I may be in the Government or out of it, I will do all
'in my power to bring about so desirable a consumma-
<tion.'

So much for the Land Question of. the British Colony of
Prince Edward Island, which Sir Bulwer Lytton was as
anxious to settle on satisfactory terms to the colonists as
was the Duke of Newcastle. To statesmen who recoil
with dismay from the least invasion of the 'rights of
property ' it may afford matter for useful reflection.

Before dismissing the subject, I may add, on the author-
ity of men of all parties, classes, and positions, that not
only are the Irish amongst the most thrifty, energetic, and
improving of the agricultural population, but they are re-

44 THE IRISH IN AMERICA,

markable for their punctuality as rent-payers. I liad no
opportunity of visiting more than two of the settlements
exclusively Irish ; but I was generally assured that the
other Irish settlements were in every respect equal to those
I had seen.

While I was in the island, an Irishman, who had not
many years before come out as a labourer, sold a farm for
1,000/., retaining another worth double that amount. 'I
came out here with little in my pocket,' said an Irishman
from Munster, from the borders of Cork and Tipperary,
* and I thank God I am now worth over 2,000/.' This was
said, not boastingly, but in gratitude to Providence for the
blessing which had attended his humble industry. ' I had
nothing to depend on but God and my own four bones,'
said another successful Irishman to me in Prince Edward
Island ; and this form of phrase, so expressive of self-reli-
ance and trust in the Divine assistance, I heard repeated
by men of the same persevering and pious race throughout
the United States and the British Colonies. 'I had no
one but God to help me,' is a common expression with the
Irish everywhere.

The sums mentioned as the results of honest industry,
and self-reliance of the most elevated character, though
respectable in amount, by no means indicate the position
obtained by many Irishmen in the colony. There are in-
stances of success in trade to which the possession of a
couple of thousand pounds would be but a small affair
indeed. However, the moderate success and modest inde-
pendence of a considerable number in a community is far
more indicative of general prosperity than the extraordi-
nary success and the large possessions of a few ; and it is
satisfactory to know that the generally good position of the
Irish in this small colony is not only a fact well established,
but that it is admitted to be the result of integrity, intelli-
gence, and good conduct.

A SCOTCH BISHOP'S TESTIMONY TO THE IRISH. 45

The testimony of their Scotch Bishop is not to be over-
looked ; it is honouring to them and to him :

'They, the Irish, are a thrifty, industrious, energetic
' class of people, of a perseverance that would be worthy of
' imitation. They keep pace in all respects — in intelligence
'and education, in comfort and independence — with all
' other settlers.

'As for the Irish girls, there could not be a more
' modest, chaste, and well-conducted class than the Catho-
' lies of the town and country. A cause of scandal is of the
' very rarest occurrence among them.

' The Irish are economical when they settle down on the
'land. The live poorly at first, then save money, and
' acquire property where they can.

'What they are they have made themselves. For one
' who came out with a dollar, ten have come out with a
shilling.'

And testimony such as the foregoing is, to my know-
ledge, not without the highest official sanction in the
colony.

' The spiritual provision for the Catholic population of
the island, now estimated at 40,000, French — Scotch, and
Irish — is steadily on the increase. There are 42 churches
and 18 priests, besides three convents of nuns, having the
care of academies and schools, in which the children are
carefully instructed in their faith.

Two buildings in Charlottetown attest more eloquently
than words the history and progress of the Catholic Church
in the colony. The one, now used as a school, denotes, by
certain lines on its roof, that it had been more than once
enlarged while used as .the only church for Catholic wor-
ship in the capital — in fact, the cathedral. The other is
the existing cathedral, a handsome and imposing structure,
furnished with a valuable organ, and capable of accom-
modating the Catholics of the town, in number about

46 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

2,500, who, with but a few exceptions, are Irish, or their
descendants of the first generation.

To the French, of whom some were the Acadians who had
been so ruthlessly banished from their home in Nova Scotia,
was the gift of the faith due in Prince Edward Island.
Then came the Highland Scotch, strong in their fidelity
to the religion of their gallant forefathers ; and lastly the
Irish, who brought their numbers and their zeal to swell the
ranks of the Church and add to its importance and influence
in the colony. The first missionary was Dr. McEachern, a
Scotch priest, educated at Valadolid in Spain, who came to
the island after the first Highland immigration. His was
an extensive sheep-fold, and many a weary journey he had
to make in looking after his widely-scattered flock. New
Brunswick and Cape Breton were included within his
jurisdiction, and frequently the faithful from Nova Scotia
crossed the sea to seek religious consolation at his hands.
This first Bishop of Charlottetown was a man of energy
and resources ; for without any aid, save that which the
zeal and piety of a small and much discouraged com-
munity supplied, he established a school, in which he
educated two priests, who formed the nucleus of the
future ecclesiastical establishment of the island, which
gave eighteen priests and two bishops to the church. It
having accomplished its great work, the Seminary of St.
Andrews was closed ; and in its place there is now an
admirable institution, St. Dunstan's College, which was
erected by Dr. McDonald, who devoted all his means to
that praiseworthy object. This college is supplied with
every modern requirement and appliance, and is under
the able presidency of the Eev. Angus McDonald,, a man
well qualified for his important task, and whose title of
'Father Angus' is as affectionately pronounced by the
most Irish of the Irish as if it were 'Father Larry*
or c Father Pat.' The Irish love their own priests ;
but let the priest of any nationality — English, Scotch,

THE IRISH AND THEIR PASTORS. 47

French, Belgian, or American — only exhibit sympathy with
them, or treat them with kindness and affection, and at
once he is as thoroughly ' their priest ' as if he had been
born on the banks of the Boyne or the Shannon. ' Father
Dan ' McDonald, the Vicar-General, is a striking instance
of the attachment borne by an Irish congregation to a good
and kindly priest; and I now the more dwell on this
thorough fusion of priest and people in love and sympathy,
because of having witnessed with pain and sorrow the
injurious results, alike to my countrymen and to the
Church, of forcing upon almost exclusively Irish congre-
gations clergymen who, from their imperfect knowledge
of the English tongue, could not for a long time make
themselves understood by those over whom it was essential
they should acquire a beneficial influence. This was
glaringly the case in one Western diocese of the United
States, where its existence was deplored to me by good
men deeply devoted to their faith. But sympathy soon
renders the most imperfect English intelligible to the affec-
tionate Irish heart, and binds the priest to the congrega-
tion in those sacred relations which constitute the strength
of the Church, and secure the safety of the flock.

A fact of which I heard, and an incident which I wit-
nessed, will afford an idea of the vitality of the Catholic
Church in Prince Edward Island, and exhibit the affec-
tionate respect in which Irishmen in that distant colony
hold those religious ladies who devote their lives to the
education of the young.

At Tignish, where the Catholic element is very strong,
and the Irish are in the proportion of one-third to the
French, there is a beautiful church, of stone and brick,
which would do credit to any city in the world ; and this
church was erected, at a cost of 12,000/., in the space of
fourteen months ! This church, as the bishop stated with
just pride, ' was the spontaneous and voluntary offering of
the people.' This was not the only effort recently made

48 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

by the high-spirited citizens of Tiguisli ; for in 1865 a
spacious convent, 75 feet in length by 40 in depth, and
three stories high, the material of brick, was erected in the
same place.

Among the other conventual establishments of Prince
Edward Island is a branch of the famous Congregation
of Notre Dame. Besides a boarding school and day
school for paying pupils, these Sisters also conduct a free
school, which is at some distance from the house in which
they reside. I here remarked with surprise, from its
novelty to one who had just left a country in which reli-
gious distinctions are so strongly marked, that Protestants
of various denominations, including those most prominent
in their hostility to the Catholic Church, send their chil-
dren to be instructed by the Sisters. As I passed through
America, I found that this custom was almost universal.
There are very grave reasons which induce parents to
obtain for their children the watchful care and salutary
influence of religious women, themselves models of gentle-
ness and refinement ; and whatever the natural prejudices
of the parents, the desire to see their children refined,
cultivated, and good, is still stronger. In some communi-
ties the motives which impel parents to prefer the teaching
of 'the Sisters' are more pressing and powerful than in
others ; but though the most violent opposition is offered
to the practice in many instances, it would appear to be
generally on the increase, and even regarded as a matter
of legitimate precaution on the part of those who adopt it.
In Charlottetown there is no school which can in any way
approach in excellence the academy of the Ladies of Notre
Dame ; which fact is of itself sufficient explanation of what
would at first excite some surprise. The Ladies of Notre
Dame are not cloistered nuns. Bound for life by their
vows, like other Orders, they can go about, visit, and teach
in schools not under the roof of their convent.

The Sisters in Charlottetown, as I have said, teach in a

A GRACEFUL GIFT. 49

free school which is not attached to their residence ; and
when the hard winter sets in, and the snow lies deep on
the ground for months, the journey to and from the ex-
ternal school is not a little trying to delicate women. To
provide against this inconvenience, and enable the Sisters
to visit the^ sick, and transact their business with greater
expedition and safety, the Catholics of the town presented
them with an elegant close carriage and harness, all finished
in the most admirable style of local workmanship ; and
this thoughtful present was accompanied with an address,
which, written and read by an excellent Irishman (the
Hon. Edward "Wheelan), was a model of simplicity and
brevity. The gift was received in a corresponding spirit to
that in which it had its origin, and was acknowledged with
graceful warmth on behalf of the gratified community.
Among the deputation were such genuine Irish names as
Brennan, Keddin, Connolly, Murphy, McCarron, McKenna,
Wheelan, Eiley, McQuaid, and Gaffney — all 'racy of the
soil.'

A poor man might do much worse than turn his face
to Prince Edward Island, where land can be had cheap,
and where, to use the emphatic words of the Governor,
' the farmers clamour for help.' Here, however, as through-
out the British provinces, I found the tendency of the
young of both sexes was towards the United States, which
offered the resistless attraction of higher wages and a wider
field for individual enterprise.

60 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEK HI.

Scene in the Lords— The Irish Race despaired of— The Settle-
ment of Johnville, New Brunswick— We enter the Settlement—
The First Man and Woman— The Second Man and Woman —Celtic
Energy — Jimmy M'Allister — Mr.Reilly from Bally vourney — How
the Man of no Capital gets along — One Cause of Success — Mass
in the Forest — Neither Rent nor ' Gale '—Other Settlements.

ON a certain evening of March 1866, there was a more
than usual attendance of peers in the House of Lords ;
and, attracted by the subject for discussion, many members
of the Commons occupied the bar, or that portion of the
gallery reserved for their accommodation. Among the
strangers who were present, was the Eoman Catholic
Bishop of St. John, New Brunswick, an Irishman, but for
nearly forty years a resident in that colony. Earl Grey
had given notice of his intention to submit a series of
resolutions in reference to the state of Ireland ; and the
largeness of the attendance was owing more to the gravity
of the subject than even to the fame of the statesman by
whom it was to be introduced. With that grave and im-
pressive statement, which belongs to the Parliamentary
records of the country, this work has no concern ; a little
incident which occurred during its delivery being the only
justification for its mention in these pages.

Standing immediately near the stranger, was a gentle-
man who displayed marked courtesy to the c American '—
as the Bishop simply represented himself to be — pointing
out to him the leading peers on either side, and explaining
such of the forms and modes of procedure as were likely
to be useful to one who 'was for the first time witness of a
debate in the Lords. In the course of his statement Earl
Grey necessarily referred to the Emigration movement,

THE IRISH RACE DESPAIRED OF. 51

which he deplored as a great calamity — a regret, I may
remark, shared in by the wisest statesmen and truest
patriots of the day ; though this annual wasting away of
the strength and very life of a nation is regarded, not
merely with indifference, but with positive satisfaction,
by shallow thinkers, and false judges of the character and
capability of the Irish race.

'My dear Sir/ said the courteous neighbour of the
Catholic Bishop, ' I do not at all agree with his lordship ;
' on the contrary, my deliberate conviction is, unless the
'Irish go away of their own accord, or are got rid of in
' some manner or other, and are replaced by our people — I
' mean the English or the Scotch — nothing good can ever
' be done with that unhappy country.'

The conviction thus deliberately expressed was honestly
entertained. There was no hostility, no anger, no passion,
but a deep-seated belief in the truth of the terrible sen-
tence thus tranquilly pronounced on a whole nation. A
similar opinion has been too frequently expressed or in-
sinuated in the public press of England, not perhaps so fre-
quently of late as in former years ; and, shocking as the
fact may appear to be, there have not been wanting those
who call themselves Irishmen, to indorse this insolent
slander by their unnatural verdict.

Now, if any man in that assembly could most prac-
tically and completely refute the scandalous proposition,
it was the Catholic Bishop to whom, in the dusk of the
evening, and while the gorgeous chamber was yet in the
shadows of twilight, his courteous informant thus vouch-
safed this candid opinion. That same day, a few hours
before he listened to this sweeping condemnation of the
Irish race, Dr. Sweeny had described to me the extra-
ordinary success which had attended his efforts to settle
the Irish on the soil of New Brunswick ; and how, in the
midst of the most trying difficulties, which scarcely any
one in the old country could imagine, much less appreciate,

52 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the same Irish, of whom the gentleman in the House of
Lords so utterly despaired, had, in an almost incredibly
short space of time, won their way to rude comfort and
absolute independence. In that interview I acquainted
the Bishop of my intention to make a tour through the
British Provinces and the States ; and before we sepa-
rated it was arranged that I should specially visit his
latest settlement of our unjustly depreciated countrymen.
The appointment made in London in the month of March
was faithfully kept in New Brunswick in the month of Oc-
tober ; and on the morning of Thursday, the 25th of that
month, the Bishop and I were en route for the settlement,
a distance of nearly 200 miles from the city of St. John.

After having passed the first evening at Frederickton,
the capital of New Brunswick, wiiere many Irish are com-
fortably circumstanced, and steadily increasing in wealth,
and the second at Woodstock, where there is also a fair
proportion of the race equally thriving, we set out at an
early hour on the following morning for the settlement of
Johnville, a distance of thirty-five miles, not of rail or
water, but of rough road ; and about noon 011 Saturday
we were entering the forest avenue which led to the utter-
most boundary on the western side. The road over which
we travelled had to me all the charm of novelty, and
would have appeared picturesque and striking to any one
from the old country, for it resembled rather a cutting
through a vast and ancient wood than an ordinary high-
way. The Bishop was, as I thought, unnecessarily enthu-
siastic in his praise of the new road,, which, I must confess,
I thought altogether fatal to personal comfort, and in the
last degree trying to the safety of the springs . of our
vehicle, though the carriage had been specially adapted to
meet such trifling contingencies as deep ruts, profound
hollows, occasional chasms, with an abundant variety of
watercourses roughly covered over with logs, not always
matched with the nicest care. I appreciated the road

THE SETTLEMENT OF JOHNVILLE. 63

from a European point of view, and as it affected my in-
dividual comfort; but the Bishop retained a vivid remem-
brance of the mere lumberman's track of three or four
years previous, and could estimate at its right value the
facility which this new highway afforded to his settlers for
the transit of their produce and provisions. As we pro-
ceeded through our couple of miles of dense forest — in
which the dark green of the pine and the brighter verdure
of the spruce contrasted with the prevailing sombre hue
of the hard wood, occasionally relieved by the bright
yellow leaves of the beech, and the gleaming crimson of
the frost-tinted maple — we were met by two or three of
the country waggons, laden with grain, and driven by
strapping young fellows, roughly but comfortably clad,
their stout horses trotting briskly along the Bishop's model
highway. These young men were delighted to see their
good Pastor, whom they saluted with a 'mixture of respect
and affection, and with whom they chatted with the most
perfect freedom. They promised to spread far and wide
the grateful intelligence that Mass would be celebrated at
eight o'clock the following morning in the little chapel of
the settlement.

Before we enter the Irish settlement of Johnville, it will
be necessary to explain briefly its origin and the conditions
under which it was established.

Deploring the tendency — the ruinous tendency — of his
countrymen to congregate in masses in cities, or to ' hang
about town,' as it is generally described, and being
thoroughly conversant with the many evils resulting from
this prevailing habit of the Irish immigrant, the Bishop of
St. John determined to employ his influence to induce
numbers of his people to settle on the soil, and thus, amid
the simplicity and safety of a rural existence, create for
themselves a happy home and an honourable independence.
Availing himself of the facilities afforded by the Labour
Act, he applied to the Government for tracts of unoccu-

54 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

pied land on certain conditions, one being that he should
find settlers for this land within a limited time. His first
application was for 10,000 acres, which were to be occu-
pied in twelve months. For this quantity of land settlers
were found within the prescribed period. A second 10,000
acres were then applied for, and similarly occupied ; and
an additional 16,000 acres, also obtained by the Bishop,
were yet to be occupied by those who possessed the requi-
site courage to face the difficulties and temporary hard-
ships of a new existence. There were then in actual
occupation 170 lots, of 100 acres each; and allowing for
the settlers with families, and the young men who had not
'yet entered into the bonds of wedlock, the number of souls
in the settlement of Johnville might be fairly estimated at
600 at the very lowest — a terrible responsiblity to the
Bishop, if his influence had been unwisely used, but a
triumph and a consolation to him if it had been exercised
in a spirit of wisdom and humanity. Of this the reader
can form a judgment from what follows.

Each settler was required by the State, as the principal
condition of obtaining 100 acres of land, to give work, to
the value of sixty dollars, on the public road that was to
pass by his own door, and was intended for his own ad-
vantage ; but while, if so inclined, he could perform this
amount of work in one year, he was allowed four years for
its completion. Before he could obtain the registry of his
grant, somewhat analogous to a Parliamentary title in
Ireland, he should be returned by the Commissioner as
having executed this required amount of work, cleared
five acres, built a house at least sixteen feet square, and
actually settled as a resident on the land assigned to him.
These conditions had been complied with, in all cases, within
the four years allowed, but in most they had been satisfied
in two years, and by a considerable number of the settlers
in a still shorter time. When the return is made by the
Commissioner, who visits the settlement once a year, the

WE ENTER THE SETTLEMENT. 65

grant is then formally registered and issued, and the settler
becomes the fee-simple proprietor of 100 acres of land,
the property of himself and his family, and of which no
power on earth can deprive him or them. Should a poor
man be fortunate enough to be the father of one, or two,
or more sons, of the age of eighteen or upwards, he can
procure 100 acres for each of them on the same conditions ;
and though a large family is regarded with horror by your
Malthusians of the old country, it is a blessing of inestim-
able value in a new country, in which human labour — that
grandest of fertilisers and mightiest of civilisers — finds its
true appreciation.

The first tenement which the settler in the forest con-
trives for himself is a camp, or shanty. It is constructed
of logs rudely put together, the interstices filled up with
moss, leaves, or clay, whatever can best keep out the wind
and the cold ; the roof consisting of the same materials,
further protected by a covering of bark, eked out, it may
be, with branches of the pine, the spruce, or the cedar.
Warmed by a stove, or carefully prepared fire-place, the
camp or shanty is considered to be a dwelling of surpassing
comfort by the settler who commences his first winter in
the forest. In a year or two, perhaps a longer time, the
rude camp is abandoned for the more spacious and elabo-
rately constructed log cabin, or log house ; and when the
settler arrives at the ' frame house ' and the frame barn, he
looks upon himself as having reached the climax of earthly
comfort, and even the highest point of luxurious accommo-
dation ; though possibly in a few years after the frame
house gives way to the substantial brick dwelling, por-
ticoed, and pillared — the glory and delight of its hospitable
owner.

Jolting and jumping over many an agreeable variety in
the surface of the road, which the Bishop and I regarded
with quite opposite feelings, we came to the end of our
verdant avenue, and reached a little eminence crowned by

66 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

a chapel of modest dimensions and unpretending archi-
tecture. From this vantage ground the first portion of
the Irish settlement of Johnville opened out before us ;
and though, on that sharp October day, the surf but occa-
sionally lit up the landscape with its cheerful beams, one
could easily imagine how beautiful in must appear in
summer, when the wide valley is filled with waving corn,
varied with bright patches of potatoe, and the surrounding
woods are clad in all the varied verdure of the living
forest. Bounded on all sides by a wall of trees, which in
one direction cover a range of mountains as beautiful in
their outline as those that are mirrored in the sweet waters
of Killarney, an undulating plain of cleared land extends
about two miles in length by a mile in breadth, dotted
over with the most striking evidences of man's presence
and the progress of civilisation, — comfortable dwellings,
substantial and even spacious barns — horses, cattle, sheep,
hogs, and poultry of all kinds, from the loud-crowing
' rooster ' to the puddle-loving duck and the solemn
goose. Even to the eye of an Irish farmer, the vast plain
before us would have presented a rough and rather un-
promising aspect, for not two acres of the many hun-
dred already ' cleared ' were yet free from the stumps
of the great trees whose lofty branches had waved and
moaned in the storms of ages. The road, bounded by rude
log fences, and the limits of each holding marked out in
the same primitive manner, and stumps a couple of feet
high plentifully scattered over every field, — this at the first
glance would not favourably impress the Irish farmer, to
say nothing of the English Yeoman or the Scotch Low-
lander ; but were he to overcome his first impressions of
the strangeness of all he saw, and enquire into its details,
he would soon discover much to astonish and much to
gratify him. The stumps, that impart so strange and
rough an appearance to an early settlement, cannot be
destroyed or eradicated for some years to come ; yet, from

THE FIRST MAX AND WOMAN. 57

the first year that the trees had been laid low by the
settler's axe, abundant crops of grain and potatoes had
been raised with comparatively little trouble ; and large
quantities of hay, priceless as winter food, had likewise
borne witness to the fertility of the soil on which a con-
stant succession of leaves had fallen and rotted through
countless ages.

In the fall of 1861 the first settlers, a man and his wife
— Mr. and Mrs. Hugh M'Cann — entered the forest, bring-
ing with them provisions for the winter, and a very
moderate stock of furniture and other valuables, which
the prudent pair had accumulated by their industry in the
city of St. John. Through a mere track, the oxen, lent by
a kindly Irish family, slowly dragged after them the entire
worldly wealth of this stout-hearted couple, the pioneers
of the civilisation so soon to follow in their footsteps.
Right in the midst of the forest — never before trodden
save by the Indian, the lumberman, or the wild animal —
the M'Canns setled down, resolved to brave the severity
of the approaching season. The first thing to be done
was to erect a log cabin, and for the rougher portion of
this indispensable work the thrifty pair were able to pay ;
but they had to cover their dwelling by their own labour,
wrhich they did with great pieces of bark and branches torn
from the trees under whose shadow they took up their
abode. Here then they were, in the heart of what to them
was a wilderness, more than two miles from a human habi-
tation, and even uncertain of the way by which they could
reach the outer world ; their only guide being either a faint
track, or an occasional mark, or scar, made on the bark of
a tree. Still they were not in the least degree discouraged.
Mrs. M'Cann had pluck and cheerfulness sufficient for a
more hazardous enterprise. With a good stove, and an
occasional quilt or blanket, suspended on the walls as
tapestry, the cold was effectually kept out, and the lonely
hours made comfortable during the bitter winter. Armed

68 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

with his keen axe, Hugh cut and chopped through the
months while the snow covered the ground ; and so re-
solutely did he work, that when the white mantle vanished
from the earth before the warmth of the spring, the
M'Canns had cleared several acres of their land ; and in
the Autumn of 1862 they gathered in their first produce —
an abundant harvest of potatoes, oats, and buckwheat. A
proud woman was Mrs. Hugh M'Cann, as she did the
honours of her forest home to the settlers of 1862 ; and
prouder still as she afforded hospitality and the shelter of
her warm roof to many who had yet to raise a dwelling
over their heads. I could well appreciate the brave and
cheery nature of this humble Irishwoman, as the Bishop and
I — after a lengthened and somewhat laborious tour through
the settlement — sat before the well-replenished stove which
had so often warmed the limbs of the wayfarer, and smiled
its ruddy welcome to the heart of the exile ; and I listened
to Mrs. M'Cann while she chatted gaily to her guests,
making light of trials and difficulties that would have
daunted many a lord of creation. She laughed, as she
told of her furniture being flung by a surly captain on the
shore of the river ; how she lost her temper ' with the
fellow/ and did not recover it for ever so long ; how tartly
she replied, in a spirit not of the mildest theology, to the
kindly-intentioned queries of a Free-will Baptist ; how ' it
was as good as any theaytre' to see Hugh and herself
tramping after the lumbering oxen, and all their cherished
property nodding and shaking on the jolting waggon ;
how Hugh spent a portion of his first Sunday — 'after
saying our prayers, Bishop, by all means' — in making the
frame of the door, while she constructed the door, 'with
her own two hands;' how happy they felt as, the cold
being effectually barred out, they sat down before their
bright stove, and drank a rousing cup of tea ; how, as time
rolled on, and the forest receded before the resolute axe,
and the fields grew in dimensions, and cattle lowed round

THE SECOND MAN AND WOMAN. 59

their house, and Tiogs grunted in the piggery, and roosters
and their wives strutted and clucked, she had a tremendous
battle with a skunk that assailed her chickens, and how,
single-handed, and appealing in vain to unheroic or sleepy
Hugh, she slew the invader of infamous odour, and then
nearly fainted through fatigue, excitement, and the over-
powering stench it emitted ; how as many as sixteen used
to lie at night on every available spot of the floor, and the
priest was curtained off by a quilt in a corner to himself ;
and how, with the help of God, the more she gave the
more she had to give. A pleasant hour's chat was that
with Mrs. M'Cann, who did the honours of her log cabin
with the ease of a duchess.

The second woman settler merits special notice, were it
only to prove, to would-be sceptics, that the relations be-
tween the landlord and the tenant in the old country have
really something to do with the Irish peasant's migration
to the New World.

Mr. and Mrs. Crehan, of Galway, had been tenants on
a certain property in that county ; and this property
having, in some way respecting which Mrs. Crehan was a
little bewildering in her explanation, come into the pos-
session of a gentleman with a fine old Galwegian name,
the tribulation of the Crehans commenced. The first
thing done by the new landlord was to raise the rent on
his tenants, the second to deprive them of their mountain
pasture, the third to cut off the shore and its seaweed from
their free use, and the fourth to persecute a cherished pig
with degrading pound, and its indignant owners with
harassing fines. It is the last drop that causes the glass
to overflow ; and possibly the wrongs inflicted on the
friend of the family and traditional rent-payer filled to
overflowing the brimming measure of their woes ; for the
Crehans made up their minds to go somewhere — any-
where— ' to the end of the world ' — rather than remain in
a state of abject vassalage, dependent on the caprice or

CO THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

avarice of the gentleman with, the fine old Galwegian name.
' and a holy Roman, too, if you plaze,' as Mrs. Crehan
scoffingly assured me. The Parish Priest was consulted
by the afflicted pair ; and he, having seen the letters of the
Bishop of St. John, which had been published in the Irish
papers, advised them to proceed at once to New Bruns-
wick, and take land for themselves and their children in the
Johnville settlement, 'where no man or no law can take it
from you or them/ added their counsellor. The advice was
instantly adopted by the Crehans, to whom the now wiser
landlord would have been glad to let a much larger farm
than that whose rent he had so arbitrarily raised. But it
was too late ; and so, after paying, ' to the last farthing,
everything they owed in the world,' they took ship for
St. John with their large family of children, their hard-
earned savings, and, what they prized scarcely less, a letter
from their Parish Priest to the Bishop.

On their arrival in St. John they lost no time in seeking
the Bishop, to whom they presented their only credential,
the letter that was ' to make a landlord of Dinny.' The
wife at that time spoke English imperfectly, while the
husband understood no other language than that which is
the sweetest to the ear and the softest to the tongue of
the Connaught peasant ; and clustering round this seem-
ingly helpless couple, was a swarm of young children,
some little more than toddling infants. As the Bishop
heard their story, and glanced at the group of young
creatures, he looked upon the case as almost 'desperate : the
husband, who had to rely on his wife's somewhat question-
able powers as an interpreter, might not be able to make
himself understood, and probably the struggle would be too
severe for the children. Therefore he so ght to dissuade
them from the attempt which they were so anxious to
make. But to go into the forest they were determined,
and go into it they did — with a result which is pleasant
to narrate.

CELTIC ENERGY. Cl

Their entire worldly means consisted of 20/., with which
they had to provide every necessary for a large family
until the first crop could be reaped and gathered in.
There was, however, the right stuff in the poor Galway
emigrants, although they were of the purest type of that
Celtic race of whose capacity your self-complacent Anglo-
Saxon stupidly affects to despair. In an incredibly short
space of time the Crehans had a sufficient quantity of land
cleared, fenced, and cropped, a spacious log house and
ample barn constructed ; a horse, and cows, and hogs,
and sheep, were purchased, or raised on this farm in the
wilderness ; and when the Bishop and I walked through
their property, and inspected their wealth in barn and
field, these despised and persecuted peasants were in
possession of 200 acres of land, and such independence as
they never dreamed of in Galway.

Volubly did Mrs. Crehan — a dark-haired, sharp-eyed,
comely matron — tell of her treatment in Ireland, and her
trials in her new home, as she welcomed the Bishop and
' the gentleman from the ould country ' into her log cabin,
which, in a few days, she was to abandon for a grand
frame house, constructed on the most approved principles
of American domestic architecture. This mansion was evi-
dently an object of the most intense pride to Mrs. Crehan,
who was much complimented by the expression of our de-
sire to see it. As we proceeded towards the new build-
ing, which wras then receiving its protecting coat of ' shingle/
I remarked that she must have felt somewhat lonely on her
first entrance into the forest.

' Thrue for you, sir, it was lonely for us, and not a living
sowl near us, but the childer. Indeed, sir, 'twas only by an
ould stump that I knew whether I wras near home or
not ; and other times we couldn't find our way at all, only
for a cut on a tree. And 'twas the owls — the divils! —
that would make a body's heart jump into their mouth.
Oh, sir, they screeched and screeched, I declare, like any

62 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Christian, till they frightened the childer out of their sivin
sinses. The little boy — he's a fine fellow now — would catch
hould of me by the gownd, and cry out, "Oh mammy,
mammy ! what a place daddy brought us to ! — we'll be all
ate up to-night — mammy, mammy, we'll be all ate up to-
night." You know, sir, it's easy to frighten childer, the
craychers,' apologised the mother.

'But, Mrs. Crehan, I suppose you don't regret having
come here ? '

'Deed then no, sir, not a bit of it. No, thanks be to the
Lord, and blessed be His holy name ! We have plenty to
ate and drink, and a good bed to lie on, and a warm roof
over our heads, and, what's more than that, all we have
is our own, and no one to take it from us, or to say " boo "
to us. The grief I have is that there's only the 200 acres
— for I'd dearly like another hundred for the second
boy. And, sir, if you ever happen to go to Galway and
see Mr. Blank (the gentleman with the fine old Gal-
wegian name), you may tell him from me, that I'm better
off than himself, and more indipindent in my mind ;
and tell him, sir, all the harm I wish him is for him
to know that much. 'Twas the lucky day he took our
turf and the sayweed — and a bad weed he was, the Lord
knows.'

' Mrs. Crehan, where's the ould man ? ' asked a crabbed
little fellow, who seemed anxious to do the honours of the
settlement to the strange gentleman, and who would keep
us company, for a bit of the road.'

' Where is he gone, is it ? Why then, Jimmy, he's gone
to sell a cow,' was the good woman's reply.

' Gone to sell a cow ! ' exclaimed Jimmy, with an expres-
sion of affected horror. 'Yea, Mrs. Crehan, ma'am, what
do you want partin' with your beautiful cow ? '

'What do I want partin' with the cow, is it? Then,
Jimmy, it's to pay what I owe, and I don't like to be in
debt -, that's what it manes, Jimmy.'

JIMMY M'ALLISTER. 63

' Bravo, Mrs. Crehan ! ' said the Bishop ; ' I admire your
principle. Never be in debt, if you possibly can avoid it.'

Jimmy was silenced, thinking perhaps that Mrs. Crehan
had the best of the argument, the more so as his lordship
was on her side.

Jimmy M'Allister may not be the wisest or most saga-
cious adult male in the settlement ; but, fortunately for
him, he has a better half, who looks sharply after all
things, Jimmy included. Mrs. M'Allister is of so thrifty
a turn that she would pick a feather off the road ; and
indeed so successfully had she picked up and bartered this
article of comfort and commerce, that she was then after
selling four good beds for the respectable sum of 16Z. — no
small addition to the annual revenue of the M'AUisters.
Jimmy was of a different turn of mind : he would rather
pick up a grievance than a feather ; and the want of a priest
for the settlement was a topic on which he dilated with
persistent eloquence, notwithstanding the Bishop's repeated
assurances that there would be a resident priest in the
course of the following spring.

' But, my lord,' persisted Jimmy, * he's wanted bad ; and
that's no lie. Faith, my lord, a body may die three times
over in this place before he could send for the priest ; and
as for that, a poor fellow mightn't have the dollars con-
vaynient to send for the doctor — two dollars goin' and two
dollars comin' — Be dad, my lord '

'Well, Jimmy, please God, you shall have the priest
next spring,' said the Bishop.

f That may all be thrue, sir — my lord ! — but, after all, a
body may die three times over before he could send for him,
and then, my lord '

' Very well, Jimmy, you will be sure to have him,' said
the Bishop with additional emphasis, in the hope of satis-
fying the unappeasable grievance-monger.

c And, my lord, sure this settlement is well able to
support its own priest, and I tell you he's much wanted

64 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

— and, for the matter of tliat, a poor body may die three
times over before he could be able to send for him '

A rumour that Mrs. . M'Allister was in sight had a mar-
vellous influence on Jimmy, who asked for and obtained
a ready leave of absence from the Bishop, on the plea of
'urgent private business,' which, in his zeal for the spir-
itual welfare of his fellow-sinners, he had altogether for-
gotten. Jimmy rapidly fell behind, and was not seen till
the following morning.

Amongst other settlers whom we visited, was a Cork
man, named Beilly, from beyond Macroom, and who,
'every day he rose in the old country saw Ballyvourney
before his two eyes.' Beilly was a man of middle age,
grave countenance, handsome features, including a marked
aquiline nose, of deliberate utterance, the richest of Mun-
ster brogues, and a splendid faculty for rolling the ' r ' like
the rattle of a drum under the hands of a Frenchman;
and it would seem as if honest Beilly had a preference
for words that enabled him to display this faculty to the
greatest perfection. The manner in which he pronounced
'your lordship,' 'your-r-r lor-r-rdship,' was grand.

Beilly had come out in the May of 1862 ; and all he had,
besides an immense family — there were eleven children
in the settlement in October 1866 — was a little money for
provisions, and an axe. But the man, and the axe, and
the will and power to use it, were ' with God's help,' equal
to the work to be done ; and so resolutely did he set to
his task, so vigorously did he and his eldest boy hew away
at the forest, that he was enabled to gather in 100 bushels
of potatoes that fall. These, and what remained in the
flour-barrel, kept the wolf from the door of Beilly 's little
sheepfold. And so the stout Cork man and his sturdy
boy toiled on, season after season, and year after year, until,
in October 1866, the settler of 1862 had cleared between
forty and fifty acres of land, and was the owner of two
yoke of oxen, six cows, several sheep and hogs, a good log

MR. REILLY FROM BALLYVOURNEY. 66

house, to which he had just added a commodious loft, a
fine barn, a piggery of suitable strength and dimensions.

' Well, Reilly, I congratulate you,' said the Bishop.
' What you have done in the time is most creditable to
you.'

' Well, my lord, I am getting along purty well, I thank
my Maker for it. We have raison to be grateful and con-
tented, your lordship, with what we've done. There is
a good prospect for us and the children, the Lord be
praised ! Sure enough, 'twas a great change from the ould
country to this. Glory, too, to the Lord for that same ! '

It may be remarked, that my excellent countryman
secured to himself in this short speech ample opportunity
for the display of his r's, which came magnificently into
play.

A glance into the comfortable and spacious house, where
Mrs. Keilly was employed in dressing a plump represen-
tative of the Keillys, afforded material for pleasing specu-
lation ; for near the big table at the opposite side of the
room, stood a pair, whose conscious manner — the same
kind of thing one may see in a drawing-room — evidently
portended speedy employment for the resident priest for
whose advent Jimmy M'Allister so ardently sighed.

Having visited many of the houses in the first great
clearance, we drove through the forest, a distance of two
miles, and came to a plain or valley of far greater extent,
stretching five miles in one direction, but similar in its
leading features to that which we had just left. It may
be remarked, in order to be accurate, that the Crehan
family were among the occupiers of this portion of the
settlement ; but as Mrs. Crehan was the second woman
who had braved the difficulties of a life amidst the woods,
I somewhat anticipated in her case. The vast tract
stretching out before us was reclaimed, or cleared, on the
low ground, and on the gentle elevation, and up the side
of the mountain range that ran parallel to the plain.

66 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Here, as in the first clearance, were the same evidences of
the presence of man and the power of that most effective
capital of all — human labour well directed. Decent houses
and ample barns were to be seen in every direction ;
and, what was the most hopeful indication of the thrift
and energy of the settlers, was the fact that, in very many
instances, while the family still remained in the primitive
log house, the barn for the reception and storage of grain
and other produce was large, substantial, and built in the
best style common to the province. In numerous cases
we found settlers to possess two frame barns, with spacious
piggeries constructed of logs, from which the well-known
melodious sounds unceasingly issued. In a very rare
instance was the original camp or shanty tenanted ; but
where it was still the dwelling-place of the family, a fair
proportion of the land was cleared, and a good barn was
filled with the produce of a prosperous season.

One of the settlers, named M'Mahon, had just com-
pleted a frame house which, for extent, outward appear-
ance, and inferior comfort and accommodation, was equal
to almost any farmer's dwelling I had seen in New Bruns-
wick, from Shediac to St. John, or from St. John to
Johnville — a distance of 300 miles. M'Mahon had brought
some capital into the forest, the result of his industry
as a blacksmith. His new trade appeared to thrive with
him, as he was surrounded with the most convincing evi-
dences of prosperity and comfort.

It must not, however, be supposed that all who came
into the settlement brought more or less pecuniary capital
with them. Many — indeed, the majority — commenced
without any capital save that comprised in their health,
their strength, and their willingness to work. ' Nothing,
sir, but my own four bones, a sharp axe, and the help of
the Lord,' was the pithy and pious response of more than
one toiler in the forest, as he was asked of his struggles
and success. This is how the settler with no capital save

HOW THE MAN OF NO CAPITAL GETS ALONG. C7

that indicated in the reply mentioned, managed to 'get
along.' Having earned, by working for others, as much
as enabled him to procure an axe and provisions for a
mouth or two, he boldly faced the forest, perhaps with a
wife and one or more children. Fortunate was the settler
if he could obtain the friendly assistance of a neighbour
to raise the first rude shelter for his young wife and her
infants ; but in the earlier period of the short history of
the settlement such assistance was not always procurable,
and the pioneer of future civilisation had to construct his
shanty 'any how he could.' Satisfied that he had thus
secured a home for his wife and little ones, he laid about
him vigorously with his keen axe, smiting many a tree
which would have formed the proudest ornament of an
English park, and prostrating pine, beech, oak, and maple,
with the same unsparing energy. The rapid decrease of
the scanty provisions would but too soon warn the bread-
winner that he must linger no longer in the camp ; and
leaving his loved ones to the protection of Providence, he
would again go out in search of work, which was always to
be found. On the Saturday night the poor fellow might
be seen — by the owls, were those grave birds on the look-
out, or by a casual wayfarer like himself — trudging along
the rough highway, or rude track, bearing on his shoulders
the grateful burden of the next month's provisions, won
in the sweat of his brow by honest toil. Thus he would
work occasionally for others, and then slash around him
with his trusty axe, until he had cleared a few acres, and
planted them with grain and potatoes, built a barn, and
gathered in the first blessed fruits of his industry. And
so on, from the shanty to the log cabin, from the log
cabin to the frame house, and the couple of barns, and
the yoke of oxen, and the milch cows, and the flock of
sheep, and the great breeding sow and her clamorous
offspring, — so on to independence, comfort, and content.
This is literally the substance of many a simple tale,

68 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

gratefully volunteered, or easily elicited by a few leading
questions.

The settlers of Johnville are invariably kind to each
other, freely lending to a neighbour the aid which they
may have the next day to solicit for themselves. By
this mutual and ungrudging assistance, the construction
of a dwelling, or the rolling of logs and piling them in
a' heap for future burning, has been quickly and easily
accomplished ; and crops have been cut and gathered
in safely, which without such neighbourly aid might have
been irrecoverably lost. This necessary dependence on
each other for mutual help in the hour of difficulty draws
the scattered settlers together by ties of sympathy and
friendship ; and while none envy the progress of a neigh-
bour, whose success is rather a subject for general con-
gratulation, the affliction of one of these humble families
brings a common sorrow to every home. I witnessed a
touching illustration of this fraternal and Christian sym-
pathy. Even in the heart of the primitive forest we have
sickness, and death, and frenzied grief, just as in cities
with histories that go back a thousand years. A few days
previous to my visit a poor fellow had become mad, his
insanity being attributed to the loss of his young wife,
whose death left him a despairing widower with four infant
children. He had just been conveyed to the lunatic
asylum, and his orphans were already taken by the neigh-
bours, and made part of their families. One of them
peered curiously at my companion and myself from under
the peak of a huge fur cap that almost rested on his little
nose, as the Bishop was enquiring after the family of a
fortunate settler, named Murphy, who had brought the
eldest of the orphans to his comfortable home. How long
these tender sympathies and beautiful charities may resist
the influence of selfishness, or civilisation, I know not ; but
that they then existed in strength and holiness I was
abundantly convinced.

ONE CAUSE OF SUCCESS. 69

To one cause may be attributed some of the success
which has crowned the labours of these Irish settlers, and
the wishes of their Bishop and his zealous co-operator, the
Eev. Mr. Connolly, the good priest of Woodstock,— the ab-
sence of intoxicating drink, or the prevention of its sale
in the settlement. "What village in England or Ireland
with a population of 600 souls — that of Johnville in the
autumn of 1866 — is without its ' publick ? ' Scarcely one ;
while the probability is that many villages of an equal
population in the old country possess two of such estab-
lishments. Against the sale of spirits in the settlement
the Bishop has resolutely set his face, and in this salutary
policy he has the hearty co-operation of the pastor of
Woodstock, to whom much of the merit of the organisation
and fortunate progress of the colony belongs. Karely is
spirituous liquor of any kind brought into the house of a
settler, and, save in some special instance, after a hard
day's work, in which many persons are necessarily joined,
it is as rarely tasted by this simple and sinless people. I
must, however, admit that, on our return through the
entrance avenue, we did meet with an elderly gentleman,
who must have been enjoying himself while visiting a
friend beyond the limits of the settlement ; for not only
were his powers as a charioteer considerably impaired, but
his damaged articulation imparted a still more bewildering
intricacy to ' the explanation of his discreditable conduct/
with which, on demand, he favoured the Bishop.

The material progress of this Irish settlement may be
illustrated by a significant fact — that fat cattle to the
value of 200£. were sold to buyers from the States the day
of my visit. What were the feelings of Jimmy M'Allister,
as he heard of this tremendous sacrifice of live stock,
and which included the cow of Mrs. Crehan, that ex-
cited his special interest, it would be difficult to depict ;
but the fact of this remarkable sale of the surplus stock
of a young colony was mentioned with pride by one of

70 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the most intelligent and energetic of the settlers, Mr.
Boyd.

Boyd was one of the few who brought a little capital
with them into the settlement. But by far his best
and most useful capital consisted of four well-grown,
healthy, ac.tive sons, and an intelligent and hard-working
daughter, wiio adds the functions of post-mistress to the
more laborious and profitable duties of housekeeper. Each
of the young Boyds has 100 acres of land in his own right,
though they all wisely keep together as one family, and
probably will continue to do so until circumstances, over
which young people generally have 'no control,' compel
them to prepare for events by no means unlikely in an
Irish colony. One of the ' boys ' was finishing a splendid
barn, another barn being filled to bursting with grain of
all kinds. The father admitted that the property then
possessed by the family — himself and his four sons — was
fairly worth 1,000/.

According to the census, taken at the instance of the
Bishop, the estimated value of the land cleared, with the
stock, the produce, and the buildings, up to the fall of
1865, was 14,500Z. — an immense sum, when it is remem-
bered that up to May 1862 there had been but one family
(Hugh M'Cann and his wife) in the settlement, and it was
not until 1863 that the greater number of the residents
had ventured into the forest. It was supposed that the
estimate for 1866 would have reached 20,000/. And if
such be the result of a few years — three or four at the
very utmost — of patient industry, stimulated by the cer-
tainty of reward and the security of its possession, what
may not be looked for ten years hence, when science and
matured experience are brought to the aid of human toil
and manly energy ?

Early on the Sunday morning tLe roads presented
an unusually animated appearance, as groups of settlers
moved towards the little chapel in which the Bishop was

MASS IN THE FOREST. 71

to celebrate Mass at eight o'clock. Keen was the wind
and sharp the air as the faithful appeared in view, issuing
.from the forest in various directions, some with horse and
waggon, but the greater number sturdily completing a
smart walk of five, six, and even ten miles. Bright and
cheerful and happy they all appeared on this auspicious
occasion, when they were to hear the voice of their pastor,
and join in the most solemn act of Christian worship.
There was no tawdry finery among the women, no dressing
beyond their condition with the men ; both were decently
and suitably clad, good strong ' homespun being rather
common with the latter. That the ladies had not ex-
haused the wealth of their wardrobes, or brought out
their best at so unfavourable an hour for legitimate dis-
play, I was impressively assured ; and more than one of
the sex — in each case a matron of mature years — volun-
teered an apology for alleged inelegance of costume, the
result, as they urged in extenuation of their sins against
Fashion, of the haste required in order 'to overtake Mass.'
As a proof that there is no lack of sympathy between the
occupant of the palace and the tenant of the wilderness, I
may mention, as an interesting fact, that on the wall of the
bed-room in which I enjoyed my first and last night's repose
in the midst of an American forest, I observed a specimen
of that intricate arrangement which is said to have had a
royal origin, and is known to the world, admired or exe-
crated, by the name of crinoline. This is given as an
instance, not alone of the omnipotent rule and universal
sway of Fashion, but of the progress of an Irish settle-
ment in the path of modern civilisation.

Beneath the groined roof of lofty cathedral there never
knelt a more devout congregation than that which bowed
in lowly reverence before the rude altar of the little rustic
chapel of Johnville. Here was no magnificence of archi-
tecture, no pomp of ceremonial, no pealing organ, no
glorious work of the great masters of sacred song; here

72 THE IRISH IX AMERICA.

were no gorgeous pictures glowing from painted windows,
no myriad lights on the altar and in the sanctuary, no
priests in golden vestments, no robed attendants swinging
silver thuribles filled with perfumed incense, — none of
these ; but a little structure of the simplest form, covered
with shingle, and as free from ornament or decoration as
the shanty of the settler — with an altar of boards clumsily
put together, and covered with a clean but scanty linen
cloth. But those who knelt there that morning felt no
want, missed no accessory, sighed for no splendour ; their
piety required no aid to inflame or sustain it. Exiles
from a Catholic land, they were once more under a sacred
roof, once more listening to the voice of their Church — once
more assisting at the celebration of Mass. And when the
Bishop addressed them in simple and impressive language,
such as a father might fittingly address to his children,
and promised that he was about to gratify the wish of their
hearts by sending a priest to live amongst them, a deep
murmur of delight evinced the joy and gratitude of the
devoted people. These, indeed, were tidings of gladness,
the fulfilment of their fondest hopes, wanting which, ma-
terial comfort and worldly prosperity would be in vain.

Through one door the women passed out, through the
other the men. By the latter sex I was at once surrounded,
and I was soon satisfied that every province and most of
the counties in Ireland had a representative in that con-
gregation. For a good hour they talked and chatted out-
side the little church, though the air was keen and the
morning still raw. They eagerly enquired after places as
well as persons, priests or politicians, and ' how the old coun-
try was getting on,' and ' whether anything was really to be
done for it ? ' One gave a case of oppression, another of
hopeless struggle against rack rent or insecure tenure, as
the reason of his flight from the land of his fathers. But
of their new home not one had a desponding word to say.
They spoke with pride of their hard work, and their steady

NEITHER RENT NOR, • GALE.' 73

progress, and the future which they confidently anti-
cipated.

'Well, thank God, 'tis our own, any how, and nobody can
take it from us/ said one of the settlers ; to which there
was a general chorus of ' amens/ and * true for you.'

' Take care, Mick, you havn't the half-year's rent ready ;
so don't be crowing.'

This pleasant sally from a wag much tickled the audience,
who, to do them justice, were willing to laugh at the small-
est joke.

' 'Tis true, Dan, boy ; but there's nobody lookin' for it/
replied Mick, who added, in a voice of affected commisera-
tion that was 'as good as a play/ and was rewarded with an
approving shout — ' but, faith, I'm thinking the agint has
the mazles, or the rhumatiz, poor man! or he'd be here
before now for it.'

'Jimmy' — to my friend of the day before — 'is your
gale to the fore?' asked a pleasant - looking Tipperary
boy.

' Little we trouble ourselves with gales, or storms aither,
in these parts/ replied Mr. M'AUister, whose innocent
wit was rewarded with such vociferous applause that I
dreaded the effect on his naturally abundant vanity.

' True for you, Jimmy, the misthress attends to the rint,
and that kind of business. I hope she'll be sure and keep
the resate, — 'tis bad to lose the writin' — as I know, to-
my cost.'

' There's a boy/ said Mr. M'Allister, pointing to a vigor-
ous young settler of some six feet in his vamps, 'and I
ask you, sir, this blessed morning, wasn't it a mortial sin
to turn his father, and three boys as likely as himself, out
of the ould country? Sheep they wanted, indeed! Chris-
tians wouldn't do 'em. Well, the Lord had a hand in it,
after all, for here they are, ah1 the boys, with their hun-
dred acres apiece ; and what do you think, sir — eh,

Terrence, my buck ! Faith, sir, he's looking out already.

4

74 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Don't mind the boys laughing, Terry ; you'll never do it
younger. But, sir, there they are, them four fine lads, and
every man of them the lord of his own estate. After all,
there's nothing like being a man's own master.'

' He doesn't always be that same, Mr. M'Allister, when
once he's married,' suggested one of the bystanders, with
a sly twinkle in his eye.

Mr. M'Allister did not seem to have heard the obser-
vation ; nevertheless he rapidly changed the conversation,
and, plunging deep into the politics of Europe, appeared
immensely interested in the intentions of the Emperor
Napoleon towards the Court of Rome. Jimmy was in
high spirits that sharp morning, influenced not a little by
the knowledge that his excellent wife was then enjoying
* a comfortable snooze in her best feather bed ' at the safe
distance of half a dozen miles from where her husband
stood, the centre of an admiring circle. It was not the
right occasion for airing a grievance ; and, indeed, his pet
grievance — the want of the resident clergyman — had been
so completely demolished by the assurance publicly given
by the Bishop, that it was hopelessly past use. The tem-
porary delay in establishing the second school in the
settlement afforded him both a theme and a consolation ;
but even of this text for an occasional harangue he was
soon to be deprived. Jimmy may now be in search of a
grievance ; and, when found, it is to be hoped it may not
be a very serious one — barely sufficient to afford a gentle
provocation to amicable discussion.

To my humble self, I must gratefully admit, Mr. M'Allis-
ter did the honours of the settlement in a manner at once
affable and patronising.

When we took our departure, which was not achieved
without vigorous and repeated hand-shakings, and prayers
and blessings unnumbered, we were accompanied a couple
of miles of the road by the Resident Magistrate of the
settlement, who also .combined in his own person the addi-

OTHER IRISH SETTLEMENTS. 75

tional dignities of Captain of Militia and Councillor of the
Parish. Mr. Cummins was himself one of the settlers, and
he recounted with modest pride the story of his early
efforts and his daily increasing prosperity.

On our return to St. John we met the Post-Master-
General — a Scotchman — who had recently paid an official
visit to the settlement ; and he was loud in the expression
of his astonishment at the progress which the people had
made in so short a time, and at the unmistakable evidences
of comfort he beheld in every direction.

The settlement of Johnville is but one of four which Dr.
Sweeny established within a recent time. He has thus
succeeded in establishing, as settlers, between 700 and 800
families, or, at an average of five persons to each family,
between 3,500 and 4,000 individuals. The description
given of Johnville would generally apply to the other set-
tlements ; the difference, whatever it might be, arising
more from the quality of the land than any other cause.

76 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEK IV.

Irish who settle on the Land — Their Success — Their Progress in
St. John — Three Irishmen — A Small Beginning — Testimony of a
Belfast Independent — Position of Irish Catholics — The Church
in New Brunswick — A Sweet Bit— Missionary Zeal — Catholicity
in St. John — Past and Present.

are large districts in New Brunswick almost
J_ exclusively occupied by Irish Catholics, who have been
from twenty to forty years in the province. Many and
anxious were the enquiries which I made in every quarter,
from persons in various conditions of life, and holding
opposite opinions on most public questions ; and it is but
simple justice to the representatives of the Irish race in
that portion of the American continent to state, that the
universal testimony was in favour of their thrift, industry,
energy, and honesty. This was the testimony, not merely
of members of their own church, who might naturally be
inclined to exaggerate the merits, or to deal leniently with
the demerits, of those of their own faith and country ; it
was the testimony of Scotch Presbyterians, English Pro-
testants, and the aristocratic descendants of the original
colonists. I have been repeatedly assured that the Irish
were amongst the best settlers in the province ; and were
I, from a feeling of false delicacy, to refrain from repeating
this creditable judgment in their favour, I should be doing
them a grievous wrong, and denying them a merit freely
accorded to them by those who, however individually just
and fair-minded, entertain no special love either for their
country or their creed.

As a rule, then, admitting of rare exceptions, the Irish
who settle on the land, and devote themselves to its cul-
tivation, do well, realise property, accumulate money,

THEIR PROGRESS IN ST. JOHN. 77

surround themselves with solid comforts, and bring up
their families respectably. Hundreds of cases could be
mentioned of Irishmen, originally of the very humblest
condition, who, wrhen they came out first, worked as farm-
labourers for others, and now occupy, as owners, the
very property 011 which they toiled for their daily bread.
On the one hand, there was waste and extravagance ; on
the other, thrift and industry ; with the natural result,
that the latter took the place which the former could not
hold.

There are millions of acres yet unoccupied, which have
never been visited save by the lumberman and his assist-
ants ; and of this land any quantity may be had from the
State on easy terms. Thus, for instance, for a sum of
601. , a property consisting of 500 acres may be purchased
in New Brunswick — may be held as long as grass grows
and water runs. But, altogether independent of the land
that may be had from the State, either by purchase or
under the provisions of the Labour Act, there are cultivated
farms which, like all other descriptions of property, are
constantly in the market ; and the thrifty man — the sober
and prudent man — who watches the opportunity of pur-
chasing to advantage, may do so at almost any time.

The Irish, Protestants and Catholics, hold a most im-
portant position in St. John, and may be said to own fully
half the property and wealth of that bustling active city.
Of this property and wealth, the Catholics, who, with
scarce an exception, are Irish, possess a considerable share.
And what they possess they realised for themselves. The
majority of those wrho are now respected for the position
they occupy, and which position is enhanced by their
character for honour and integrity, came out poor — in
many instances absolutely penniless ; but they stripped to
the work before them, and climbed, with steady energy,
from the lowest rung of the social ladder to wealth and
independence. Kare indeed is the instance of a young

78 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

man having come out with a tolerably well-filled purse.
' I had not a pound in the world when I landed here,' is
the boast of nine out of ten who owe their present proud
position to their own unaided exertions. And when de-
scribing how several of the wealthiest of the modern emi-
grants succeeded in life, some one who knew the city well
would say : ' Such a man first worked as a labourer ; I
' remember this man in a sawmill ; that man commenced

* as a lumberman ; one was a gardener, another a porter,

* another a pedlar : and now such a man is worth 2,OOOZ. ;
'such a man, 5,OOOZ. ; such a man, 10,000/. ; such a man,
'20,000/. ; such a man, 50,000?.: but, sir, all made by
'honesty, energy and good conduct.' This is liter ally the
history — the noble history — of many a man in St. John,
who is a credit to the country of his adoption, and an
honour to the land of his nativity. Even those who
enjoyed the advantage of a good education had, when they
started, little more of worldly goods than those whose
only possessions were their strength, their honesty, their
strength or their skill ; and in the hard struggle upwards,
that incalculable advantage necessarily told in their favour.
But in all cases, education or no education, whether the
young adventurer brought with him the well-won honours
of Old Trinity, or the learning picked up in a village
school, steadiness, sobriety, and good conduct were essen-
tial to success.

The possession of ' a little money ' is very useful to any
man who emigrates to a new country, especially when he
has a family to provide for. But it has been confidently
asserted, by experienced observers of the early struggles
and successful career of their countrymen, that the most
fortunate men came out 'without a pound in their pocket/
or, as they phrased it, without ' anything worth speaking of.'
This may be accounted for by the necessity which compels
a man without money, in a strange place, to set to work
at once, and at anything that offers ; whereas the man with

A SMALL BEGINNING. 79

a small capital is perhaps inclined to look about him too
long, expecting, like Mr. Micauber, that £ something will
turn up,' and may thus lose the opportunity, or fritter away
the energy essential to success. I was much struck with
the histories of three Irishmen whom I met while in New
Brunswick. One was a sturdy Independent, from the
neighbourhood of Belfast ; the others were Catholics — one
from ' Sweet Glaiimire,' near the city of Cork, the other
from the county Fermanagh.

The Cork man's first enquiry was, 'Why, then, how's
Beamish and Crawford ?* — are they alive at ah1 ? '

Having satisfied my cheery acquaintance on that head,
by assuring him that Beamish and Crawford were as well
as he could wish them to be, I suggested a leading ques-
tion—

'I suppose, Mr. M'Carthy, you had to fight your way,
like the rest of our countrymen ? '

'Faith, and that I had, sir, and no mistake. All I
owned in the world, when I got as far as Frederickton,
was twenty-five cents, and sure enough that same was not
left long in my pocket, as I'll tell you — and it makes me
laugh now when I'm telling it, though it was far from a
laughing matter then. I took the twenty-five cents out
of my pocket, and I put them in my hand, and I looked
at them and looked at them, and I thought to myself they
were mighty little for a man to begin the world with ; but
faith, sir, there was no help for it, and I had my health
and strength, and all I wanted was work to do, for I was
equal for it. Well, sir, small as the twenty-five cents looked
in my hand, they looked smaller soon. I felt myself very
dry entirely, and I wanted a drop of tea bad ; so I went into
a house, and said to a woman I met there, " Ma'am, I'll feel
much obliged for a cup of tea, if you'd be pleased to give
it to me." " Certainly, young man," says she, for she was

* One of the most eminent and respected brewing firms in Ireland.

80 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

civil-spoken enough, and I was quite a young fellow in
them days ; " certainly," says she, " you must have a cup
of tea, young man ; but you must pay me twelve cents for
it." "Beggars can't be choosers," says I to myself, "so
here goes for the tea." That cup of tea made a large hole
in my twenty-five cents, and the bed and the breakfast
next morning put the finish to my capital. But, sir, as
the Lord would have it, I got a lucky job from a good
gentleman that same day ; and when he saw that I was
steady, and didn't want to spare myself, he gave me more
to do. From that day to this I've never been idle, and
always steady, and keeping away from the drink, unless a
little in reason, once in a way ; and IIOAV, glory be to God
for it ! I have enough for myself and my family, and I'm
doing a good business, and have something put by. But,
sir, wasn't it a small beginning? Faith, I can't help
laughing when I think of the twenty-five cents, and the
big hole that cup of tea made in it.'

The Fermanagh man was then living upon his income,
which was still considerable, though he had educated and
provided for a large family. It was his boast that ' all he
had in the world when he landed from Ireland was n
dollar and a shilling.' Industry, perseverance, and good
conduct did the rest.

I shall allow the Belfast Independent to speak in his
own words, his testimony in favour of his countrymen
being too valuable to be omitted. He is — or was in
October, 1866 — a member of the Government, though
without a portfolio, his important private affairs requiring
his principal attention.

' I had to work my way up, with no one to help me but
myself. I literally had nothing when I began — nothing
in the shape of money or friends ; but I got on from one
thing to another, and I am now, thank God, all right and
getting along. I think it does a man good to be obliged
to work his own way in life ; I know it did me good, and

TESTIMONY OF A BELFAST INDEPENDENT. 81

I am happier than if my father or grandfather had done
everything for me, and I nothing for myself but to eat
and drink what they left me. My dear sir, some of our
best men hadn't a cent when they started ; and what are
they now? Faith, sir, they are better off than if they'd
been left fortunes — for in that case they might be only
anxious to spend them. Why, when I was first elected to
our Parliament, there were seven of us who began as poor
boys — yes, sir, poor boys ; and three of them were Irish,
like myself.'

' Irish,' I repeated.

* Yes, sir, Irish ; and I tell you what, sir, it's not be-
cause I am an Irishman myself that I say it, but still I
do say it — that our people get along in every way as well
as any others. They are as smart, and as industrious —
yes, and as saving ; and they get property too as well as
the rest — English, Scotch, or 'Bluenoses.' All they want
is just to keep away from the liquor — not, sir, that others
don't drink as much, and perhaps more, if the entire truth
was told, than they do ; but when the Englishman will be
stupid, or the Scotchman will hide himself in a corner, the
Irishman will go out in the street, and make a noise, and
call attention to himself — that's just the difference. But,
sir, when the Irishman is steady and sober, he has no
superior ; and I don't say this because I happen to be an
Irishman, but because I see it every day of my life. Why
look at them when they get on the land; see how com-
fortable they are, and what stock they have ! I wish
you'd come to the Irish settlement near me, in St.
Stephen's, Charlotte County; there is not a poor man
among them all — yet they all came out poor — as poor as
mice — without a cent in the world. Yes, sir, and though
they are not of iny church, I say there isn't a more moral
or virtuous people in the world, — that I say without fear
of contradiction.'

* You must know your countrymen well,' I suggested.

82 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

'That I ought. I am in this country nearly forty
years, and I saw the first of their coming here. They
have gone on wonderfully, surely — all must admit that.
And there isn't anything like the drink there was among
them. I have experience of that in my own business. I
am perhaps as largely in the lumber business as any man
in the Province, and I employ a great many men. Some
of it is very nice work, I assure you ; and for skill and
judgment, when once he gets to know his business, I say
I prefer the Irishman. And, sir, there isn't that danger
that ever was that will frighten him; I've seen him as
steady as a rock in the midst of the rapids. As to the
drink, when a party went into the woods formerly, they
could do nothing without the whiskey, and the keg of
spirits was as necessary to the lumberman as the barrel of
flour or meat, or the store of groceries; but lately it is
not thought of — and so much the better ; people get along
as well and better without it, and they save their money
into the bargain. And let the sober Irishman alone for
saving! — faith he scarcely has his equal for that in this
Province.'

I remarked that it was pleasant to hear so good an
account of one's countrymen, especially as there were
too many in the world not inclined to think favourably
of them.

'Well, that is true; there are too many who bother
themselves about people's religion, and who won't give
Catholics a good word; but, for my part, I live in the
midst of them, and I find they are in every way equal to
any others that you can mention. Then as for the Priest,
why I always see him going among his flock, settling
differences when they happen, and taking the greatest
care of the children. I havn't a better or faster friend

than Father , though I am not of his church. But

for the Irish, I know them well, and what I say of them
is before my eyes every day.'

POSITION OF IRISH CATHOLICS. 83

That the Irish Catholic has had the hardest battle to
fight, iiot only in New Brunswick, or the other British
Provinces, but throughout the States, must be obvious to
any one who considers the circumstances under which he
left his own country, and the prejudices, national and
religious, which beset his path in the country of his
adoption. An Irishman and a Catholic, poor, and perhaps
illiterate — the latter the result of vicious laws rather than
of any indifference on his part to learning — he had little in
his favour, and almost everything against him. Many of
the older settlers were the descendants of the Puritans
of New England, and the sectarian prejudices of their
fathers still survived in the breasts of their children.
Indeed it would be difficult to decide whether the feeling
against the Irish Catholics was stronger when they were
few in number, and their strength was altogether insig-
nificant, or when they grew into an important section of
the population, and their influence became perceptible in
the politics as in the trade and commerce of the Province.
The prejudice which they had to encounter was neither
latent nor slumbering — it was open and active ; it met the
Catholic Irishman in every rank of life and in every branch
of industry, and nothing short of the indomitable energy
which, throughout the American continent, the race have
shown themselves to possess, could have raised so large
a number of them in New Brunswick above the rudest
employment or the humblest fortune. And yet, while
labour, rude or skilled, is the lot of the majority of the
Irish in St. John, and throughout the province generally,
a considerable proportion are to be found in every depart-
ment of business, and enjoy, as merchants, traders, and
manufacturers, the highest position which character and
wealth can secure to their possessor. And not only is it
true that the mercantile and trading class among the Irish
Catholics are equal in enterprise, and even cgo-ahead-
ishness,' to the most advanced of those who have caught

84 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the right spirit from their neighbours of the States, but
there is a large amount of propert}^ held by the working
classes. And this applies with equal accuracy to Frederick-
ton, Woodstock, Chatham, Chediac, — wherever the Irish
have established themselves in numbers, or had a fair
opening for the exercise of industry, intelligence, and
thrift. The Irish Protestant had fewer difficulties to
encounter than his Catholic countrymen, and he is
generally to be found in flourishing circumstances. Simi-
larity of religion with that of the wealthier portion of the
mass of the population was always of great assistance to
the Protestant emigrant to America.

The history of the Catholic Church throughout America
is also the history of the Irish race in the New World.
This is as true of the British Provinces, with the exception
of Lower Canada, as of the .United States. From this
point of view it may prove interesting to describe briefly
the growth and progress of the Church in New Bruns-
wick.

It is little more than fifty years since a Kilkenny colle-
gian was ordained in Quebec by the Bishop of that city,
whose spiritual jurisdiction then extended over New Bruns-
wick and other maritime provinces of North America,.
Father Dollard — for that was the young priest's name —
was sent to Cape Breton as a missionary among the
Indians, who, having been originally converted by the
Jesuits, those faithful and fearless soldiers of the Cross,
adhered with remarkable fidelity to the religion taught
them by the ' black gowns.' While with this simple flock
the young Irish missionary led a life of the severest hard-
ship. Living with them in their camps, he shared with
them all the privations to which they were peculiarly ex-
posed. Many years after, when Bishop of Frederickton,
the venerable priest would take delight in narrating anec-
dotes of his mission among the 'red skins.'

Father Dollard was summoned on one occasion to visit

A SWEET B1T--A BRAVE PRIEST. ,N>

an Indian who lay at the point of death far away in tho
forest — a distance of twenty-seven miles. It was mid-win-
ter, and the ground was everywhere covered with deep
snow. Accompanied by his guide, armed with a stout staff,
and his feet protected by snow shoes, the priest was soon
on his way. Before starting he shared his breakfast with
his companion, who, with commendable forethought, but
much to the disgust of his reverend friend, coolly took
from the table the remnant of the meat, rolled it in a rag
of most uninviting appearance, and placed it in his pouch,
which he hid away in his breast. "When the travellers had
accomplished ten miles of their arduous journey, they sat
down on a fallen tree to rest. Here the Indian drew
forth his treasure from its hiding-place, unrolled the un-
pleasant-looking rag with much solemnity, and, cutting
off a portion of the meat, politely handed it to the mis-
sionary, saying, ' Father, you take bit of this ? ' The
young priest shuddered at the proffered dainty, but quiet-
ly declined the courteous invitation, on the plea of not
being hungry. ' Then me eat it, Father,' said the Indian,
who devoured the morsel with every appearance of the most
intense relish. At the end of five miles more of weary trudg-
ing through the snow, the pair again rested, the priest feel-
ing faint as well as tired. Again the Indian drew forth his
treasure, which the priest now viewed with somewhat
different feelings to what he had beheld it on previous
occasions, and not with the same involuntary rising of the
gorge. Cutting off a liberal portion, the Ked Skin, with
an insinuating manner, and in the softest voice, said,
' Father, may be you take some now ? ' ' Yes, my child, I
think I will,' replied the priest. ' And, my dear sir,' said
the Bishop of Frederickton, ' I can assure you I never ate
anything sweeter in all my life.'

While still among the Indians of Cape Breton, Father
Dollard had to remain for the night in a strange wigwam,
and there being no kind of bed in the miserable dwelling,

86 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

a couch formed of fresh green boughs, torn from a neigh-
bouring tree, was constructed for his use. On this he lay
down to rest, but he was awakened in the middle of the
night by excruciating pains in his back and shoulders, and
in the morning he was throwing up blood. Compelled to
return to Montreal, where he could obtain medical assist-
ance, he was for two years an invalid, hah0 the time being
spent in the hospital. Restored at length to health — so
fervently prayed for by the zealous missionary — he was
sent to Miramichi, in New Brunswick, this new field of his
labours extending over an immense tract of uninhabited
country, his flock consisting of tribes of Indians, and a
few scattered French, Scotch, and Irish. When on sick
or missionary duty, he travelled along the river and
its tributaries in a canoe, always accompanied by an In-
dian ; and many a time, when neither wigwam nor log-
hut was within possible reach, the priest and his faithful
guide had to pass the night on the bare ground, under the
welcome shelter of their upturned canoe. From Mira-
michi Father Dollard was transferred to Frederickton, the
capital of New Brunswick. While here the smallpox, that
awful scourge of the uncivilised races of man, made its
dreaded appearance among the neighbouring Indians, in
whose camps it committed deplorable ravages. It was
at such a moment that the Irish priest displayed the
courage and self-devotion which formed so noble a feature
in his character. When the timid savages fled in horror
from the mysterious enemy that was hourly striking down
their stoutest braves, and making desolate their wigwams,
Father Dollard knelt by the rude couch of the sufferer,
nursed him, and prayed with him, and consoled him ; and
when death released the soul of the poor Indian from its
swollen and ghastly tenement of clay, the dauntless priest
took that festering body in his arms or on his back, and
with his own hands placed it in the grave which he had pre-
viously dug for its reception. Is 'it to be wondered at that

MISSIONARY ZEAL. 87

the Church should have made the progress it has done,
when such was the spirit of early missionaries ?

Father Dollard remained at Frederickton until 1842,
when he was consecrated Bishop of New Brunswick. At
the time he commenced his mission there were not more
than four or five priests in the entire province.

Father Gagnon, a French Canadian, was one of these
spiritual pioneers, and his duty took him along that portion
of the Northern shore of which Shediac may be described
as the centre. And rough times they were with the
missionary, who had to encounter the wild blast and the
perilous wave, as he skirted the dangerous shore in an open
boat, which he was himself often obliged to row. Not
unfrequently did he experience the inconvenience of being
wrecked ; and more than once had the tall gaunt priest to
wade to land, some cherished article of property or provi-
sion held high above the raging waters, to save it from de-
struction. Depending a goad deal on this uncertain means
of communication, Father Gagnon paid irregular visits to
the widely scattered settlements of his extensive mission.
In the same district in which the Canadian priest thus pur-
sued his sacred calling, there were in 1866 six large and
populous parishes, with good churches and resident clergy-
men.

We now turn to St. John, the centre of a great and
growing diocese. There are men still living — I have
spoken with some of them — who remember the time when
they could name every Catholic then in that city. One of
these, a Catholic magistrate, informed me that when he
arrived from Ireland, in the year 1818, there was but ' a
mere handful ' of the faithful in the town ; and he well
remembered how 'one Andy SULLIVAN, a tailor from
Bandon,' had to read prayers for them in the church of
St. Malachy — a little timber structure, which the poor con-
gregation were years trying to cover in from the rain and
the wind, and had no means of wanning for fourteen bitter

88 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

winters, until tlieir numbers and their resources were in-
creased. There was another reader besides the worthy
tailor from Bandon — ' one Flanagan, a college-bred man ;'
and the visits of a priest being then of only occasional
occurrence, the congregation were glad of the services of
one who could read with befitting impressiveness the Epis-
tle and Gospel of the day, such prayers as were suitable to
the occasion, with perhaps a chapter from the work of some
pious divine, or a sermon from one of the lights of the
Church. From a dozen, or at most twenty Catholic fami-
lies, the number gradually increased, though to a still
scanty congregation and feeble community; but from the
year 1820 the tide of emigration commenced to flow in,
slowly at first, eventually with greater strength and a fuller
current, until, in a few years after, Catholics began to feel
themselves to be an important portion of the population.
Slowly, laboriously, and amidst much difficulty and marked
discouragement, the Irish Catholics grew year by year into
a position both prominent and influential. The early Ca-
tholic settlers carried with them the impress of their civil
and religious degradation ; and even for a considerable
time after the passing of the Emancipation Act the new-
comers were regarded with aversion and mistrust by the
old colonists, who likewise, and not unnaturally, looked
upon them as interlopers and intruders. But, manfully
and steadily, the Irish Catholics won their way, though not
without many a hard fight and many a keenly-felt morti-
fication, to political influence and social consideration.
Now they kneel beneath the lofty roof of their magnificent
cathedral, 200 feet in length, of solid stone, and built at
a cost of .£30,000 ; and among them, white-haired and
venerable, a few of those who, in the wind-scourged shanty
of 'the church of St. Malachy' — for which a stove could
not be procured for fourteen long North American winters
— listened with devout attention to the voice of Andy Sul-
livan, the tailor from Bandon, and to the more skilful

CATHOLICITY TAST AND PRESENT. 89

elocution of ' one Flanagan, the college-bred man/ Forty
years since, an ordinary room would have afforded sufficient
accommodation to the Catholic worshippers of that day :
now congregations of 2,000 or 3,000 pour out on Sundays
and holidays through the sculptured portals of the Church
of the Immaculate Conception. On All Saints' Day I be-
held such a congregation issuing from an early Mass, fill-
ing the street in front of the splendid building ; and from
the appearance of the thousands of well-dressed, respect-
able-looking people, who passed before me, I could appre-
ciate not only the material progress of the Irish in St. John,
but the marvellous development of the Catholic Church in
that city.

On a plot of land, four acres in extent, and right in the
heart of the town, are clustered the Cathedral, the Palace
of the Bishop — of cut stone, and one of the finest structures
of the kind in the British Provinces, indeed in America —
the Convent of Charity, the Convent of the Sacred Heart,
an Asylum for Orphans, and a Classical and Commercial
Academy under the patronage of the Bishop. There are
other churches, convents, and schools in the city, including
the admirable schools of the Christian Brothers.

When the present estimable prelate first came on the
mission in 1844, he had to travel distances of from sixty
to eighty miles to attend ' sick calls/ and was frequently
absent for more than six weeks at a time, travelling from
mission to mission, saying Mass in log huts, and adminis-
tering the sacrament to flocks scattered throughout a wide
and thinly-populated district. There are now several resi-
dent clergymen in that district — outside St. John ; and
instead of the rude log hut of the past, there are now
sixteen good churches, with large congregations. And all
this change in the comparatively short space of two-and-
twenty years.

There are two dioceses in the same province in which,
years since, there were but four missionaries. That

90 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of Chatham is presided over by Dr. Rogers, that of St.
John by Dr. Sweeny. In the two dioceses there were in
1866 ninety churches and forty-five priests ; and as rapidly
as priests can be ordained, or obtained from the colleges
in Ireland, there are missions awaiting their labours.
When Dr. Sweeny was consecrated, in 1860, he had but
nineteen priests in his diocese, whereas in 1866 the
number had increased to thirty, and two young candidates
for the ministry were to be ordained before the spring of
1867.

' Bishop, when we were boys, and when the old church
of St. Malachy took so long in building, and when it was
so many years before it could be closed in, little did the
Catholics of that day think of building cathedrals and
palaces for their bishops, and schools and convents.' This
was the remark made in 1866 by an Episcopalian clergy-
man to Dr. Sweeny, as they stood near the group of
buildings that present the most eloquent evidences of the
numerical strength, material progress, and devoted zeal of
the Irish Catholics of St. John. Little did those who lis-
tened to the Sunday readings of Andy Sullivan, the tailor
from Bandon, or of ' one Flanagan, the college-bred man,'
dream of the possibility of a revolution so miraculous.
And yet it has come to pass.

CHAPTER V.

The Irish in Quebec — Their Progress and Success — Education
entirely Free — Montreal — Number and position of the Irish —
Their Difficulties and Progress — Beneficial Influence of good
Priests— St Patrick's Hall.

TjlNTERING Canada at Quebec, the presence of a strong
JQj and even influential Irish element is at once observable.
In the staple industry of this fine old city — the lumber trade
— the Irish take a prominent part. About 700,000 tons
of shipping are annually loaded at Quebec; and in this
vast business the Irish perform the principal part. This
trade is divided into several branches, some requiring dif-
ferent degrees of skill and judgment; others calling for
physical strength, endurance, or dexterity; more neces-
sitating the possession of capital. Thus, for instance,
there is a valuable class of men employed in sorting and
measuring timber, who are called ' cullers,' whose business
requires special skill and aptitude ; and these men are
principally Irish. Cullers can make as much as 300/.
a-year; the very same class who in Ireland would think
themselves fortunate if they could earn one-sixth of that
income. Then there are 'cove-owners,' who purchase,
store, and prepare timber for exportation — who, in fact,
sell to the shippers. The cove-owners are principally Irish.
The cove-owner does a large business, and enjoys a good
credit, and he generally lives well, keeps his country
house, and even drives his own carriage. Nor are there
wanting Irishmen in the ranks of the shippers, men of
large means and good standing in the commercial world.
Then for that extensive department in which strength,
dexterity, and endurance are all essential, the Irish com-

92 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

mand the best position, and, as a necessary consequence,
they receive the highest rate of payment. On an average,
the working men employed in the various branches of the
lumber business of the port earn from 6s. and 8s., even to
10s. a day ; but it must be remembered that there is a
considerable portion of the year during which employment
becomes scarce, and even ceases altogether ; therefore the
man whose sole capital is his labour must determine to
save for the hard weather, which is sure to come, or he
must be ready to go into the woods as a lumberman, or
seek employment wherever it can be procured.

It is pleasant to know that not only are the Irish in
Quebec, and indeed along the St. Lawrence, among the
most industrious and energetic portion of the population,
but that they are thrifty and saving, and have acquired
considerable property. Thus along the harbour, from the
Champlaiii Market westward to the limits of the city, an
extent of two miles, the property, including wharves,
warehouses, and dwelling-houses, belong principally to
the Irish, who form the bulk of the population in that
quarter. And by Irish I here mean Catholic Irish. There
are many Irishmen of other persuasions, eminent in trade
and commerce, men of the highest standing and repute ;
but not only are there many Catholic Irishmen, who came
out to Canada with little more than their skill as me-
chanics, or their capability as labourers, now in positive
affluence, but the larger proportion of those who live by
their daily toil have acquired and possess property of more
or less value. This property usually consists of the plot
of land on which they have erected a house for their own
occupation, and another to let to tenants. As the fortunes
of the family increased, so did the house, until at length a
decent dwelling, of at least two storeys, was secured ; then
the house for the tenant was constructed. It is ascertained
that the Catholic Irish — the Irish of the working classes —
have 80,000/., or $400,000, lodged in the Savings' Bank of

THE IRISH IX QUEBEC. 93

Quebec ; and that in all kinds of bank and other stock,
they own something like 250,000/. or $1,225,000. Thus in
the Union Bank, of 400 stockholders in Quebec, 200 are
Irish. And this is but one of three local banks in that city.
Besides possessing extensive house property, and having
accumulated money, they are generally engaged in business,
of which they enjoy a fair share. Whatever the Irish pos-
sess, they have made by their own unaided industry ; for,
as a respectable Irishman, who had himself worked his way
to independence, said to me : ' You could scarcely trace
one that brought a sovereign with him.' He added that
he had brought out four himself, but that he might as
well not have done so, for he lent them to a person who
never took the trouble of paying them back. 'And per-
haps, after all, it was so much the better for me that I lost
the money, for I had to work the harder.' Among those
who came out ' poor,' as working mechanics, is an Irishman
who is now in the enjoyment of an income of 10,000/.
a-year, made by successful contracts, natural ability, and
good conduct. This case may be regarded as a somewhat
remarkable one in Canada, if the magnitude of the result
be regarded ; but there are many instances in which sums
of 20,000£, 30,OOOZ., and 50,000/. have been realised by
the industry and perseverance of Irishmen who came to
the British Provinces 'without a shilling.' The secret of
the success or failure of Irishmen may be summed up in a
sentence, spoken by a countryman of theirs in Quebec ;
words which I have heard expressed hundreds of times in
all parts of America, and which could not be too often
repeated : ' Where the Irish are steady and sober, they are
' sure to get on ; where they are drunken, reckless, or im-
' provident, why of course they fail.'

In Quebec, as in too many places in America, there are
instances of drunken, reckless, and improvident Irishmen ;
but, happily, these cases are exceptional, for, as a rule, the
Irish of that city are sober, prudent, and thrifty. And

94 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

one fact, the exact parallel to which may be told of the
Irish in Montreal, is in the highest degree creditable to
the moral tone which they maintain, — that there is not in
the Irish portion of the town a single house of bad repute,
although as many as 10,000 sailors are frequently at one
time in the port, and although the Irish keep lodging-
houses, and places of entertainment, which are frequented
by a class whose influence is not always the most favour-
able to public or private morals.

The Irish Catholics in Quebec, who number about
12,000, possess Church property of their own creation, to
the amount of 40,000£. ; and the manner in which they
respond to appeals made to their charitable feelings, was
strongly impressed on my mind from hearing the Pastor of
St. Patrick's announce from the pulpit that the bazaar just
held in aid of an hospital for old and infirm people had
realised the net sum of 800/. To this handsome amount
the wealthier classes had contributed a fair proportion ;
but the larger amount came from the pockets of the
working people. Indeed, to employ the language of a
gentleman long connected with Quebec, 'they form an
exhaustless resource in every charitable or religious under-
taking.'

I was afforded a favourable opportunity of seeing at one
time a large body of the working class of Irish, that is
Irish-born, or born of Irish parents. The occasion was
a funeral of a young man who had fallen victim to a
daring feat, which resulted in his death. The nature of the
death created a livery sympathy among his class, who might
be described as 'ship-labourers,' engaged in various de-
partments of the great lumber industry of the port. The
procession occupied a considerable time in passing the
place at which I stood, and the papers of the following
morning estimated the number who 'walked' at 1,200.
There was not of that large body of working men a single
one badly or shabbily dressed ; all were well and com-

GOOD LAWS AND FREE EDUCATION. 95

fortably clad, while many were attired with a neatness and
even elegance that could not be seen in the same class at
home. They seemed to me to bear themselves with an air
of manly independence, as free citizens of a free country,
in which the laws make no distinction between man and
man. And taking into consideration the dangers and
hardships to which most of those engaged in the principal
work of the river and harbour are necessarily exposed, and
the temptations to which the very nature of their employ-
ment gives rise, these men are, as a body, temperate and
well-conducted ; the country being the exception.

The Irish Catholic who must depend upon himself for
' getting along ' has more difficulties to contend with than
the Irish Protestant, or the Englishman or Scotchman.
The majority of the population are French ; and not only
does the Irishman speak a different language to that
of the majority of the population, but he absorbs a large
and valuable portion of the employment, and pushes his
way into active rivalry with the more wealthy class in
various branches of business. Then he has a certain
amount of national jealousy or sectarian feeling to en-
counter amongst the English-speaking section of the com-
munity. So that when he does rise above the mass, and
acquire wealth and position, it is at least certain that his
struggle has been hard, and that his success has been
well-earned. But whenever an Irish Catholic in Quebec
or Montreal told me of his hard up-hill fight, he was sure
to add — ' The laws are good and just, and we enjoy every-
thing we have a right to hope for. We have nothing to
complain of here ; and all we wish is that you were as well
off at home.' To which sentiment, I need hardly say, I
invariably responded with a cordial ' Amen.'

Education in Lower Canada is entirely free. Each
denomination enjoys the most complete liberty, there
being no compulsion or restriction of any kind whatever.
And the magnificent Laval University, so called after a

96 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

French bishop, enjoys and exercises every right and privi-
lege possessed by the great universities of England. This
University, which is eminently Catholic, obtained a charter
conferring upon it all the powers that were requisite for its
fullest educational development.

The rights of the Protestant minority are protected in the
amplest manner, as well by law as by the natural tendency
and feeling of the majority ; for there are no people more
liberal and tolerant, or more averse to any kind of agres-
sion on the faith or opinions of others, than the French
Canadians ; and the Irish Catholics too well remember the
bitterness caused by religious strife in the old country, to
desire its introduction, in any shape or form, or under any
guise or pretence, into their adopted home. There are
abundant means of education within every man's reach ;
and it is his own fault if his children do not receive its full
advantage. But the Irishman, whatever may be his own
deficiencies as to early training, rarely neglects that of his
children ; and in Canada, as in the States, the fault attri-
buted to him is not that he neglects to educate them at all,
but that he is tempted to educate them rather too highly,
or too ambitiously, than otherwise.

In no part of the British Provinces of North America
does the Catholic Irishman feel himself so thoroughly at
home as in the beautiful and nourishing city of Montreal.
Jle is in a Catholic city, where his religion is respected,
and his Church is surrounded with dignity and splendour.
In whichever direction he turns, he beholds some mag-
nificent temple — some college,* or convent, or hospital
— everywhere the Cross, whether reared aloft on the
spire of a noble church, or on the porch or gable of an
asylum or a school. In fact, the atmosphere he breathes
is Catholic. Therefore he finds himself at home in the
thriving Commercial Capital of Lower Canada. In no

THEIR NUMBER AND POSITION IN MONTREAL. 97

part of the world is he more perfectly free and independent
than in this prosperous seat of industry and enterprise, in
which, it may be remarked, there is more apparent life and
energy than in any other portion of the British Provinces.
It is not, then, to be wondered at that the Catholic Irish
are equal in number to the entire of the English-speaking
Protestant population, including English, Scotch, and
Irish. It is estimated that the Irish Catholics are now
not less than 30,000. Of these a large proportion neces-
sarily belong to the working classes, and find employment
in various branches of local industry. Their increase has
been rapid and striking. Fifty years since there were not
fifty Irish Catholic families in Montreal. It is about that
time since Father Richards, an American, took compassion
upon the handful of exiles who were then friendless and
unknown, and gathered them into a small sacristy attached
to one of the minor churches, to speak to them in a
language which they understood. In thirty years after-
wards their number had increased to 8,000, and now they
are not under 30,000.

The Irish of all denominations represent a vast propor-
tion of the wealth and commercial enterprise of Montreal ;
and though the majority of the Catholic Irish came out at
a later period, and under far less favourable circumstances,
their position on the whole is in every way excellent.
They are not in the least behindhand in industry, energy,
and active enterprise, when compared with any other
portion of the community. As merchants, traders, and
manufacturers, Catholic Irishmen, who commenced without
any capital, other than a moderate share of education,
natural intelligence and good conduct, are steadily yet
rapidly rising to wealth and social position ; and instances
without number might be recorded of men, who could
scarcely write their names when they landed on the wharf
of Montreal, who, thanks to their native energy and reso-
lute good conduct, are this day rich and independent.

5

98 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The Savings Bank is the strong-box of the prudent man
of moderate means and humble position ; there he places
his little surplus capital, generally after having built for
himself a house or ' store/ as a shop is termed in America.
The position and character of the Irish working classes
in Montreal may be fairly estimated from the fact, that of
$1,000,000 deposited in the Savings Bank of that city,
four-fifths, or $800,000, belong exclusively to them. A
large portion of the stock of the Ontario Bank also stands
in their name. Then they possess considerable house
property, two-thirds of which is insured. Griffintown, the
principal Irish quarter, is almost entirely owned by the
working classes ; and here, as in Quebec, not a single
house of ill-fame is to be found in the entire district. In
Griffintown, poverty and wretchedness, miserably clad
children and slatternly women are occasionally to be seen;
but they are comparatively rare ; and in almost every case
the drunkenness of the father, or the tippling of the mother,
is the sole cause of the wretchedness and degradation
which, happily exceptional, form a dark contrast to the
prevailing sobriety, thrift, and good conduct distinguish-
ing the Catholic Irish of Montreal.

While it is true that the Irish Catholic feels himself
more at home in Lower Canada than in the other Pro-
vinces, Upper Canada especially, it must not be supposed
that he has not had many and serious difficulties to con-
tend against. Whatever may now be the feelings of the
French Canadians towards the Irish, they were strongly
hostile to them at one period ; for in the rebellion of 1837,
the Irish, influenced in a great measure by two eminent
priests of their own country — Father McMahoji, of .Quebec,
a man of surpassing power as an orator, and in every
respect one of the most remarkable men of his time ; and
Father Phelan, afterwards Bishop of Kingston — generally
sided with the British Power, and against the insurgents
of that day. This was one and a very natural cause of

THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND PROGRESS. 99

prejudice against them. Difference of language must at
all times, even under the most favourable circumstances,
create a barrier against international fusion, or thorough
sympathy between races ; added to which, the humbler
class of the new-comers soon began to occupy situations
and even monopolise branches of industry previously
occupied and monopolised by the French Canadians.
Then, as may be supposed, the Catholic Irish were not
much befriended by the English-speaking portion of the
population ; so that here, as in most other places, the Irish
emigrant had to fight his way up under circumstances suf-
ficient to daunt any other people, but which difficulties
seem to have had the effect of bracing their energies and
ensuring their success. It is nearly a quarter of a century
since Francis Hincks. now Governor of the Bermudas, and
Louis Drumniond, now an eminent and highly respected
Judge of the Supreme Courts of Lower Canada — the one
a Unitarian, the other a Catholic, and both Irishmen —
infused life and spirit into the Catholic Irish of Montreal,
and gave them a sense of pride and consciousness of
strength, which they much required. Now they form a
large and important section of the population of the finest
and most prosperous city of British North America, and
they are thoroughly conscious of their strength and legiti-
mate influence.

I had the pleasure, on several occasions in Montreal, of
meeting the very elite of my countrymen of all denomina-
tions ; and I found among those who, when they com-
menced, had to rely altogether on their own exertions,
more of the American spirit than in almost any other city
in the colonies. There is greater manufacturing enterprise
in Montreal than elsewhere in British America ; there are
therefore larger sources of employment throughout the
year for the working classes, to many of whom, indeed to
most of whom, the winter is a season of trial and priva-
tion.

100 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Among those whom I met, was an enterprising manu-
facturer, who boasted of his being ' a Cork boy,' a pupil of
the Christian Brothers, and an apprentice of the Messrs.
Hegarty, the eminent tanners of his native city. He was
doing a thriving business, his orders being over $100,000
in advance of his means of supply. He had left the States
some dozen years before, being anxious to afford his young
family the advantages of a sound Catholic education, which
at that time was not of such easy attainment in the city
where he then resided as it has since become. Prosper-
ous himself, he was enthusiastic in his description of every-
thing in Montreal, particularly the position occupied by
his co-religionists. ' We Irish Catholics,' he said, * are in
' a strong position in this city. There is no city in the
' States in which we occupy a more favourable position
' than we do here. We feel ourselves at home here ; we
' are not foreigners, as we are sometimes considered else-
' where. The laws are good, and we have all that we can
' fairly desire, and we can educate our children in the best

* manner, and just as we please. In fact, we could riot be
' better off. This is the place for an honest and industrious
' man, but not for the idler or the drunkard. There is no
'fear, in this country, of a sober man, who is willing to

* work ; but he must be sober and industrious.'

'"My worthy friend was himself a rigid teetotaller — to
which fact he attributed most of his prosperity.

It is foreign to the purpose of this book to describe
the public institutions and buildings of any place ; but I
cannot refrain from expressing my admiration of Montreal,
which is in every respect worthy of its high reputation.
It has an air at once elegant and solid, many of its streets
spacious and alive with traffic and bustle, its places of
doing business substantial and handsome ; its public build-
ings really imposing, and its churches generally splendid,
and not a few of them positively superb. This description
of the churches of Montreal is not limited to the Jesuits'

BENEFICIAL JNFLUKXCi: OF GOOD PRIESTS. 101

Church, the stately Paroisse, and the grand church of St.
Patrick, of which the Irish are deservedly proud ; it ap-
plies with equal propriety to the Episcopalian Cathedral,
and more than one church belonging to the Dissenting
bodies. Montreal is rich in all kinds of charitable, edu-
cational, and religious institutions ; and such is the in-
lluence and power of the Catholic element, that this beau-
tiful city, which is every day advancing in prosperity and
population, is naturally regarded by the Catholic Irish-
man as a home. The humble man sees his co-religion-
ists advancing in every wralk of life, filling positions of
distinction — honoured and respected ; and, instead of
mere toleration for his faith, he witnesses, in the mag-
nificent procession of Corpus Christi, which annually pours
its solemn splendour through the streets, a spectacle
consoling alike to his religious feeling and his personal
pride.

The infhience of really good priests, who combine wis-
dom with piety — who, in their zeal for the spiritual welfare
of their flock, do not overlook their temporal interests and
material progress — is at all times most serviceable to the
Irish ; and nowhere is that influence more required, or
more potent when exercised, than in America. Happily
for the race, it is exercised very generally throughout that
country, and in no instance without the most beneficial
results, in their improved tone, their greater industry, and
their habits of thrift and saving. The good priests of St.
Patrick's — the Sulpitian Fathers of Montreal — employ this
salutary influence with results most cheering to witness.
It lifts the Irish up ; it raises their social condition ; it
induces them to acquire and accumulate property — in fact,
by the very improvements which they are induced to effect,
to identify themselves with the progress of the commu-
nity. To acquire this most desirable influence over an
Irish congregation, the priest need not be an Irishman ;
but he should be wise and pious, and his people should

102 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

feel that lie has sympathy with them. The lack of this
essential sympathy is often fatal to the best intentions of
the best men ; where it exists, it supplies or compensates
for the want of many qualities, if not actually essential,
at least very valuable in a priest. The good Fathers of St.
Patrick's in Montreal — and fortunately they have their like
in every direction — in every Province and every State
— combine all these requirements ; they are wise as well
as pious, and they have a profound sympathy with their
flock.

St. Patrick's Hall — of which I only saw the broad found-
ations— is creditable alike to the enterprise and public
spirit of the Irish of Montreal. The Hall itself will be as
spacious as a cathedral — 134 feet long, by 94 feet wide,
within the walls, and 46 feet high. The national senti-
ment is gratified in the architecture of the building, which
is 'purely Irish, copied from Cormack's Chapel on the
Rock of Cashel.' The design is really grand and im-
posing ; and when fully realised in cut limestone, St.
Patrick's Hall will form one the most striking archi-
tectural ornaments of the city. With a front of 144 feet
on Victoria Square, and 100 feet on Craig Street, it is in
the very centre of the business portion of Montreal ; and
the fine shops which are to form the ground flat, and the
show rooms on the second flat, together with sundry rents
derived from the great concert-room and other portions
of the building, will render St. Patrick's Hall not only pleas-
ing as a monument grateful to national sentiment, but
satisfactory as a speculation.

CHAPTER VI.

Upper Canada— Number of the Irish— How they came and settled,
and how they got along ; Illustrated by the district of Peter-
borough—Difficulties and Hardships— Calumnies refuted — What
the Settlers did in a few Months— Early Trials— Progress and
Contrast — Father Gordon — Church-building in the Forest — An
early Settler — A Sad Accident— A Long Journey to Mass — A
Story strange but true— The Last Grain of Tea— Father Gordon
on the Irish and their Love of the Faith.

TIHE Irish form fully half the population of what still,
Confederation notwithstanding, may be designated as
Upper Canada. Of these the Catholics may be said to be
nearly one half. Fortunately for the Irish in Canada,
they have generally adopted the kind of industry best
suited to their knowledge and capacity, and do not, as it
is too much the habit of their brethren in the States,
crowd into the large towns, for which, by habit and educa-
tion, they are not suited. They are scattered over the
land in great numbers, either in settlements, in groups,
or singly ; but in whatever manner distributed over the
face of the country, they are, as a rule, doing well. The
Catholic Irish are in many instances to be found in almost
exclusively Catholic settlements ; but they are also to be
met with in the midst of Scotch and English, and mixed
up with their Protestant countrymen, who have mostly
come from the north of Ireland. There are Catholic
settlements of every date — from six, ten, and twenty years,
to thirty and forty years, backwards — generally in a
nourishing condition, and in every one of which are to be
seen extraordinary examples of courage, energy, and en-
durance, such as may well make an Irishman proud and
hopeful of his race.

It would not serve any useful object were I to ask the
reader to accompany me through various counties or town-

104 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ships of Canada ; my purpose is rather, by the aid of an
occasional sketch, to show how and in what manner the
humbler and poorer Irish emigrants have succeeded in
making a home for themselves in their adopted country.
In order to appreciate what they have done, it is necessary
to afford some idea of the difficulties that lay in their path.
That they have succeeded in rendering themselves in-
dependent, and in laying the foundation of a prosperous
future for their descendants, is undoubtedly true ; but we
may profitably glance at the past, to see how all this has
been accomplished. I prefer rather to deal with those who
came out poor, without capital, depending for their daily
bread on the labour of their hands, than with those who,
emigrating under more favourable circumstances, were
never called on for the display of the qualities essential
to the rude pioneer, whose chief capital consisted in a
strong arm, a keen axe, and a bold heart. I cannot
better commence than with a brief sketch of the settle-
ment of one of the most prosperous districts in Canada —
Peterborough.

In the year 1825, now forty-two years since, a con-
siderable number of emigrants, consisting of 415 families,
or 2,000 individuals, sailed from Cork Harbour on their
way to Canada, where, under the auspices of the Govern-
ment, they were to establish a home for themselves in
what was then a forest wilderness, the abiding place of the
wolf and the bear. These 2,000 people were ah1 from the
south of Ireland, genuine Irish in birth and blood. Let
us follow the footsteps of those humble people, and learn
how they battled with the difficulties of a new and trying
position, and what they accomplished for themselves and
the country of their adoption.

The voyage across the Atlantic was wonderfully prosper-
ous. Heaven seemed to smile upon the poor exiles, and
give them courage for what they had soon to meet. In a
few weeks after their arrival at Quebec, they were found

THE SETTLERS OF PETERBOROUGH. 105

encamped on the shores of Lake Ontario, near Cobourg,
waiting for means of transport to their intended settle-
ment, in what is now the rich and fertile county of Peter-
borough, then mostly a verdant wilderness. These people
were the pioneers of civilisation, for their future home was
fully forty miles distant from the frontier settlement of
that day. There was not then even the semblance of a
track through the wooded country which they had to
traverse, and a kind of road had to be cut from Lake
Ontario to Rice Lake, a distance of twelve miles through
the tangled forest. Rice Lake had then to be crossed, and
the rapid and turgid Otanabee, for the distance of twenty-
five miles, was to be ascended by this little army of
settlers. In order to cross the lake and ascend the river,
three boats were constructed, and propelled on wheels over
the rough track from the one lake to the other ; but when
this part of the difficulty was got over, and the baggage
and provisions were brought so far in safety, it was found
that, owing to the dryness of the season, and the con-
sequent shallowness of the waters of the Otanabee, it was
impossible to proceed without additional means of trans-
port; so a great boat of light draught, sixty feet in length,
by eight feet in width, had to be at once constructed,
and with the aid of stout rowers, frequently relieving each
other, this vessel was steered through the rapids, and got
somehow over the shallows. After difficulties and hard-
ships, enough to fill the poor adventurers with despair —
which difficulties and hardships were aggravated by fever
and ague, that alike unsparingly attacked the robust and
the delicate, the strong on whom the weak relied, and the
weak who were thus rendered still more helpless — they
arrived at wrhat is now known as one of the most beautiful
and prosperous towns in Canada, and was then but a
trackless wilderness. Those who arrived first commenced
immediately to put up rude huts, or wigwams, made of
great strips of bark, branches of trees, and sods ; and as

106 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

batch after batch of emigrants arrived, after successfully
passing the rapids and shallows of the river, the landing-
place presented an animated appearance, which gave some
idea of a new home to the exiles, and cheered their droop-
ing spirits. Here they remained encamped until they
proceeded to settle on the lands in the neighbourhood.
The proportion of land granted to each family of five
persons was 100 acres ; but each grown-up son was also
allowed the same quantity for himself. Soon the tem-
porary huts made their appearance here and there in
groups, as the attractions of friendship or acquaintance
induced families to seek each other's neighbourhood, or as
greater facilities for shelter or comfort suggested; and it
was not long before this Irish camp assumed the air of
a place of business. The novelty of the present, and the
uncertainty of the future, must have deeply impressed the
most thoughtful and observant of the settlers ; but that
which gave them the greatest uneasiness was the absence
of a spiritual director and comforter — of the Priest* to
whose guidance and ministrations they had all their lives
been accustomed. They embraced the first opportunity of
appealing to the Governor-General of the Province to
supply this great want ; and in their memorial, which is
touching in its simple earnestness, they display their
traditional love of education and devotion to their faith.
They say: 'Please your Excellency, we labour under a
' heavy grievance, which we confidently hope your Excel-
' lency will redress, and then we will be completely happy,
' viz., the want of clergymen to administer to us the
' comforts of our Holy Religion, and good schoolmasters to
' instruct our children.' What a comment is this on a comi-
cal absurdity which I heard uttered in no less important a
place than the House of Commons — that the Irish *were
rushing to America in order to get rid of their priests !

Calumny and slander had followed these poor exiles.
across the ocean, and tracked them to their new home in

CALUMNY REFUTED. 107

the wilderness. When first the people in the frontier
settlement — for the most part immigrants themselves, or
the sons of immigrants from the United States, who re-
fused to abandon their allegiance to the British Crown
at the time of the American Eevolution — heard of the
arrival of these 2,000 'Irish Papists' in the neighbour-
hood, they became alarmed for their property, and even
for their personal safety. This alarm and prejudice were
caused by stories circulated by those who, unhappily, had
brought the old unnatural hatred with them to a new
country. However, such was the order maintained in the
colony, and such the excellent conduct of the settler, that
it became quickly apparent that these stories were false and
unfounded. A person then residing near the colony bears
testimony to their industry, energy, and good conduct, in
a letter dated January 1826, a few months after their
arrival. The letter is written to a friend : —

' I am here in the very midst of them ; from twenty to thirty pass
my door almost daily. I visit the camp frequently, and converse
with them on their affairs, and find them happy and contented. In gen-
eral, they are making great exertions in clearing land , and their efforts
have astonished many of the did settlers. Not one complaint has been
made against them by any of the old settlers, and it is the general
opinion that when so large a body of people are brought together
none could conduct themselves better. When we heard of their
coming amongst us, we did not like the idea, and immediately began
to think it necessary to put bolts and bars on our doors and windows.
All these fears are vanished. These fears, I must acknowledge, were
in consequence of stories that were put in circulation before their arrival
in that part, which have all turned out to be equally false.'

Let us now see what were the results of the energy and
industry of this colony of Irish settlers in the short space
of a single year. Remember, these people were not what
it is the strange fashion in some parts of America to
describe as, and the shameful fashion to admit as being —
' Scotch-Irish ;' they were genuine Irish, in feeling as in
blood. These 2,000 'Irish Papists/ whose path of exile

108 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

was tracked by wicked lies, sailed from Cork in May 1825 ;
and in November 1826 they were proved to have done
this work : — they had cleared and fenced 1,825 acres of
land, and raised off the land so cleared 67,000 bushels of
potatoes, 25,000 bushels of turnips, 10,000 bushels of
Indian corn, 363 acres of wheat, 9,000 pounds of maple
sugar ; and they had purchased, by their labour, 40 oxen,
80 cows, and 166 hogs ; the total value of the single
year's work, literally hewn out of the wilderness, by the
sturdy energy of these Celts, being estimated at 12,524/. !

These figures represent amazing energy and marvellous
success, but they do not do full justice to the people by
whom this work was done : for while they were engaged in
the novel labour of cutting down the lofty and ponderous
trees of the virgin forest, they were assailed by those
enemies to the first settlers — Fever and Ague — that seem
to resent man's invasion of the solitudes of nature, and
endeavour to drive back his daring footsteps. Dr. Poole,
a resident physician, writing of the sufferings of these
early colonists, says that the fever and ague assailed them
almost from the first moment they arrived in the country ;
and many strong hearts were unmanned, and many vigor-
ous forms prostrated, during the earlier seasons of their
forest life. Scarcely a family escaped, and sometimes
entire families were afflicted with the ague for months
together ; and such was the violence of the disease, and
their utter helplessness, that, at times, they were hardly
able to hand each other a drink of water ! It is a wonder-
ful instance of energy and perseverance ; and it may be
well doubted if a greater amount of work has ever been
accomplished during the first year by an equal number of
persons, under equally unfavourable circumstances, in any
part of America. It must be also borne in mind, that not
one of these settlers had ever felled a tree until he set
his foot in Canada.

The immigrants or settlers of forty years since suffered

KAUL.Y DIFFICULTIES. 109

from inconveniences that are comparatively rare in tlia
present day, and among the chief and most serious of
these was the want of mills to grind the produce of their
fields. The difficulty was not to raise the grain, but to
convert it into flour, and thus render it fit for the food of
man. It is recorded that, at an interview of a Scotch
settler with the Governor, he told his Excellency — 'We
' have no mill, sir, and save your presence, sir, I have to
'get up at night to chew corn for the children.' Possibly
the settlers from Cork were not subjected to a toil so
fearful as that endured by the devoted Scotchman ; but the
only grist-mill within reach being at a distance of between
fifteen and twenty miles, it was necessary for the person
who desired to get his corn ground to convey it to that
distance on his back, and to return with it the same dis-
tance when it was converted into flour ; and frequently
would some sturdy Irishman shoulder his bag of grain,
and bear it on his back those long and weary miles, his
only food some potatoes which his wife had prepared for his
toilsome journey. In the winter a hand-sleigh, that could
be pushed over the snow, would afford facilities for taking
corn to the mill, or for the transport of provisions ; but
there were states of the weather when the snow, which at
other times afforded an easy track, was a source of im-
pediment and danger. For many years the skin of the
hog was made into covering for the feet, the hairy side
being turned inwards ; and as a substitute for tea, which
was then a costly luxury, attainable only by the rich, or
those within reach of towns, wild peppermint and other
herbs were made to take its place.

What but the manly vigour for which the Irish race
are now proverbial in the countries to which they have
migrated, could have so speedily overcome the difficulties
of a first settlement in the wilderness? Not a few of
those who sailed from Cork in 1825 have passed away,
after a life of hard and ceaseless toil, and others now

110 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

stand, as it were, on the brink of the grave ; but their
sons and their grandsons, their daughters and their grand-
daughters, flourish in the midst of prosperity and comfort,
of which those who went before them were the creators.
The shanty and the wigwam and the log hut have long
since given place to the mansion of brick and stone ; and
the hand-sleigh and the rude cart to the strong waggon
and the well-appointed carriage. Where there was but
one miserable grist-mill, there are now mills and factories
of various kinds. And not only are there spacious schools
under the control of those who erected and made use of
them for their children, but the ' heavy grievance ' which
existed in 1825 has long since been a thing of the past.
The little chapel of logs and shingle — 18 feet by 20 — in
which the settlers of that day knelt in gratitude to God,
has for many years been replaced by a noble stone church,
through whose painted windows the Canadian sunlight
streams gloriously, and in which two thousand worshippers
listen with the old Irish reverence to the words of their
pastor. The tones of the pealing organs swell in solemn
harmony, where the simple chaunt of the first settlers was
raised in the midst of the wilderness ; and for miles round
may the voice of the great bell, swinging in its lofty tower,
be heard in the calm of the Lord's Day, summoning the
children of St. Patrick to worship in the faith of their
fathers. Well may the white-haired patriarch, as he
remembers the sailing from Cork, the passage across the
mighty ocean, the journey up the St. Lawrence, the cutting
of the road between the two lakes, the difficulties .of the
shallows, and the dangers of the rapids of the Otanabee, the
camp in the wilderness, the fever and the ague that racked
his bones in the early years, the hard toil and stern pri-
vations ; well may he be surprised at what he now beholds
— at the wondrous change wrought by the skill and
courage of man, animated by the most potent of all
incentives — the spirit of hope and the certainty of reward.

PROGRESS. Ill

Twenty-five miles west of Peterborough, another town
has sprung up within a few years — sprung out of the
forest, as if by enchantment ;. and of this town a majority
of its inhabitants are the descendants of those who left
Cork in 1825, and of their friends or relatives who followed
them in a few years after. There is not in Canada a
prettier town than Lindsay, in which may be seen a
curious structure, rather out of place in the midst of brick
and stone. Carefully fenced round, and kept in a state of
preservation, is an old log shanty, which is regarded by
a considerable portion of the inhabitants with affectionate
veneration. This was the temple in which they wor-
shipped God when the soil on which the prosperous town
of Lindsay now stands was covered with juniper and pine.
Near this ' old church ' is seen its successor — a splendid
brick edifice of Gothic architecture, erected at a cost of
$20,000. And not a gun-shot's distance from the old
church is a fine block of shops, equal in style to any
buildings in Montreal, which cost their owner some
hundred thousand dollars. Twenty-five years ago he was
a poor lad, not worth sixpence in the world ; but he pos-
sessed what rarely fails in the long run — industry, honesty,
intelligence, and steadiness.

To finish the history of these Irish immigrants, it may
be mentioned that the discovery of gold in their neigh-
bourhood has amazingly enhanced the value of real estate ;
so that those who desire, in the true American spirit, to
push on, and seek a more extended field for their opera-
tions, may part with their property at prices which would
enable them to purchase whole tracts of land in other
places.

Proceeding farther West, we may behold the first hard
struggle of people and pastor, to reclaim the soil from
the sterility of nature, and maintain the faith in the midst
of the wilderness.

112 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

There is still living in Hamilton, Western Canada, as
Vicar-General of the diocese, an Irish priest — Father
Gordon, from Wexford — who has witnessed astonishing
changes in his time. He has seen the city founded, and
the town spring up ; the forest cleared and the settlement
created ; the rude log chapel, in which a handful of the
faithful knelt in the midst of the wood, replaced by the
spacious brick church in which many hundreds now wor-
ship. And not only has he witnessed astonishing changes,
but he has himself done much to effect the changes which
he has lived to see accomplished. It is now about thirty-
seven years since he came to Toronto, then a small place,
and known by the name of Little York. Bishop McDon-
nell, a Scotchman, was the first Catholic bishop of the
diocese, at that time of immense extent. Father O'Grady,
a Cork man, was stationed at Little York, and though even
at that time the position of the Irish Catholic was miser-
able in the extreme. Father O'Grady was a favourite with
the authorities ; and indeed such were his social qualities
and charm of manner, that no dinner party wTas considered
complete without his genial presence. Father Gordon had
charge of the back townships, twenty-four in number. We
must appreciate the extent of his spiritual jurisdiction,
when we learn that a township comprised an area of twelve
miles square ; and Father Gordon had to attend twenty-
four of these !

Irish Catholics there were, scattered through this vast
territory— very nearly all of which was in its natural state,
as it came from the hand of God ; but they were few and
far between, hidden in the recesses of the forest, most of
them not having seen a priest for years, perhaps since they
left their native home. Many of these had worked on the
Erie canal, and had come to Canada and taken land to
settle. The fewer in number brought some little money
with them, but generally their wealth consisted of provi-
sions, which they had to carry on their backs through the

FATHER GORDON. li:j

•woods, a distance of thirty, forty, even fifty miles. So long
as the provisions lasted, they cut away and cleared ; but
as soon as the stock was near being exhausted they re-
turned to the States, and went again on the public works.
And thus they worked and laboured until they raised
sufficient food to be independent of the merchant and
storekeeper. At this day these men are amongst the most
.prosperous in Canada.

The townships of Adjala and Tecumseth, in the county
Simcoe, are amongst the most Irish and Catholic of any in
Upper Canada. When Father Gordon became acquainted
with them, there were in both but thirty or forty families,
and these were scattered in every direction. Few were the
visits which he could make in each district of his far-
extended mission ; he was in one place this Sunday and a
hundred miles in an opposite direction the following Sun-
day. But the visit of the clergyman was an occasion of
jubilee, in which all participated. About the time his
arrival was expected, scouts would be on the watch to give
the first notice of his approach, and if there were a hill-top
in the neighbourhood, a signal fire would spread the glad
intelligence to the anxious colony. With joyous cries, and
clapping of hands, and eloquent sobs, the pious people
would hail the priest, as his wearied horse bore him into
their midst ; and catching the contagion from them, the
travel-worn missionary would forget his long journey and
his many privations at the spectacle of their devotion and
the cheering accents of their Irish welcome. Sheep and
poultry, and even oxen, would be sacrificed by the pros-
perous settler, who was proud to have his home selected for
the ' station ; ' and after confessions had been heard and
Mass celebrated, and Communion received, then would
follow the abundant breakfast, of which all partook, and
then the grand dinner, for which such slaughter had taken
place ; and those whom long distance had kept for months
apart would now rejoice in the opportunity of talking of

114 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the old country and former times, while the priest was ap-
pealed to on every side, as the best and surest authority
as to what was going on in the world at the other side of
the Atlantic, especially in Ireland — that spot to which
every heart turned with unceasing love.

In 1833 Father Gordon determined to commence the
work of church building in the forest, and his first effort
was successfully made on the confines of Adjala and Tecum-.
seth, where he Resolved on erecting a log church. Assem-
bling the people, he asked them to assist him in the good
undertaking. They were delighted with his proposal, and
willingly placed themselves at his command.

' There is one thing, boys, you must also promise me,'
said the priest.

' Why, then, whatever it is, your reverence, we'll promise
it, sure enough.'

' Well, boys,' continued Father Gordon, ' whiskey is like
the devil— it is the father of mischief, and you know it is
one of the greatest enemies of our race and country. It
makes the best friends fall out, and it is the cause of vio-
lence and murder.'

A chorus of voices — ' True for your reverence — 'tis the
blessed truth.'

' Well, then,' continued the good pastor, ' I want you to
join me in performing one of the most acceptable works
which man can perform for his Creator ; that is, to raise a
temple to His honour and glory, in which you and your
children can worship the Great Being who has watched
over you, and protected you and yours in the midst of
this forest. I ask you to consecrate this great work by an
act of self-denial which will be pleasing in His sight. I
want you to promise me that you will not drink a drop of
anything this day but water from that beautiful spring,
fresh and sparkling from the hand of God, while you are
engaged in erecting the temple to His honour. Promise
me this, and you will have a blessing on your work, and
you will bring gladness to the heart of your priest.'

CHURCH-BUILDING IN THE FOREST. 115

The promise so solemnly solicited was given with one
impulse, and it was religiously kept. Animated by the
right spirit, the brave fellows addressed themselves to their
labour of love ; and so earnestly did they work that they
cleared an ample space, as if by magic, and before the night
set in they had erected a log church, 50 feet by 30, on
the same spot on which now stands one of the finest eccle-
siastical buildings in Canada. While the work was pro-
ceeding the poor priest was attacked with ague, and he was
compelled to lie at the foot of a great tree on a couch con-
structed of the coats of the hardy church-builders. When
the crisis passed he was again in their midst, assisting them
by advice or cheering them by a kindly word ; but during
that day he was frequently driven beneath the pile of
clothing by a new paroxysm of his disorder. In a similar
manner the same indefatigable priest erected six other
churches in the course of three years : and so careful was
he in selecting the best sites, as to position, convenience,
and conspicuousness, that in every case these primitive
structures have been replaced by good churches, solidly
built, with comfortable dwellings for the priests attached.
These churches, erected in the midst of the forest, are now
every Sunday surrounded by forty or fifty ' waggons,' many
of them with a pair of good horses, the property of the
substantial yeomanry, nay the gentry of the country, who,
little more than a quarter of a century since, were penniless
emigrants, with no friend save Providence, and no capital
other than their strength, their industry and their intelli-
gence. Let us take one of these pioneers of civilisation as
an instance of what in those days they had to endure.

It is now about thirty years since an honest hardworking
Irishman determined to go into the woods, and there make
a home for himself and his wife and infant child. He
had not, as he afterwards used to declare, 'as much
as a half-crown in the world.' He however managed to
take, and pay for by instalments, 100 acres of land, then

116 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

covered with forest. Hiring himself to a farmer at some
distance, he was enabled to purchase a stock of provisions
and an axe ; and thus provided^ he resolutely faced the
wilderness, and there erected a shanty for himself and his
little family. Like others similarly circumstanced, he then
commenced to hew down the trees that overshadowed his
primitive dwelling. Having effected a certain amount of
clearing, he would again seek for such employment as
enabled him to renew his stock of provisions ; and thus
alternately working abroad for others and at home for
himself, this sturdy settler gradually succeeded in making
a home for his now increasing family. His first crop of
wheat, raised from the small patch "which he had "then
cleared, he was compelled to carry on his back to the
nearest mill, to be ground into flour. The distance was
thirty miles — not of road or river, but through the dense
forest, at that time but' rarely intersected by open paths.
[Returning on one occasion with the customary bag of flour
on his back, the night overtook him while he was still far
away from home. Blindly stumbling about in every direc-
tion, he fell, and, perhaps owing as much to the burden he
carried as to the manner in which he came to the ground,
broke his leg. Here was indeed a sad position! — in the
midst of a lonely forest infested with wolves, away from all
human assistance, and writhing in exquisite pain. There he
lay for the whole night, moaning helplessly in agony of mind
and body, as he thought of his young wife and his little
children, far away from friendly assistance, and of the wild
terror which his unaccountable absence would be sure to
occasion. He was fortunately discovered next morning by
a settler, who was attracted by his cries of distress, and who
assisted in conveying him to his 'almost distracted family.
For some months he lay helpless in his cabin, full of
anxiety as well as pain ; but no sooner was he once more
able to be on his legs than he was again at work. That
man never ceased his hard toil till he had cleared

A LONG JOURNEY TO MASS. 117

his first lot, of 100 acres, and added time by time to his
property; and he is this day the possessor of 900 acres
of as good land as any in Canada, as well as the owner of
saw-mills and grist-mills, in which the inhabitants of the
neighbourhood may grind their corn. Toronto was over
twenty miles distant from his log cabin, and when he first
settled in the bush it was only at rare intervals that he
had a visit from the priest. It was his custom to go to the
city as often as he could, to perform his religious duties ;
and as, for the first years of his settler's life, he could not
afford to purchase a horse, he was compelled to walk the
whole of the way. When he brought one of his children
with him to Mass, which it was his habit to do, in order,
as he said, to make a strong religious impression on their
youthful minds, he would divide the journey into two
stages, and making the house of a friend his resting-place
for the Saturday night, would set out at break of day on
Sunday morning, holding his boy by the hand, or bearing
him on his back. He would thus arrive some time before
Mass commenced, so as to prepare for Communion, which
he received with edifying piety ; and after a brief rest and
refreshment he would face towards his friend's house, his
resting-place for the night. Nor was the good Irish father
disappointed in his hopes of his children, all of whom grew
up strong in the faith. Three of his sons received a col-
legiate education, and are now amongst the most respected
members of the society in which they creditably move.

Father Gordon spent half his time in the saddle ; and
though he spared neither himself nor his horse — but
himself much less than his horse — it was with the utmost
difficulty that he could visit the more distant portions of
his mission oftener than twice or thrice a year. Many a
time did the active missionary lose his way in the midst of
the woods, and after hours of weary riding find himself, in
the dusk of the evening, in the very same spot from which
he set out in the morning ! His safest plan was to leave

118 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

*.

himself to the discretion of his trusty companion, that
rarely failed him ; thus when puzzled as to the path, or
rather track, he would throw the bridle on his horse's neck,
and at the end of some time he was sure to be brought up
before a cottage door, which was generally opened to him
in welcome, for even those not of his faith respected the
zealous ' Irish minister.' There was, however, one occasion
when his reception was of a very different nature ; and as
the circumstances of the case are remarkable, it deserves
to be told. I may say that I heard it the first time in
Toronto from a warm admirer of the fine old priest, and
afterwards in Hamilton from his own lips.

Returning to Toronto after a hard day's work, Father
Gordon was about entering his modest residence, to obtain
some necessary refreshment, when a countryman rode up
to the door. He proved to be an Irishman from the town-
ship of Tecumseth, in the county of Simcoe, about forty
miles from Toronto. ' Father, I'm glad to meet you ; I
want you to come with me to near my place, where there's
a man dying, and there's not a moment to be lost.' This
was agreeable news for the poor priest, who certainly had
had his fair share of the saddle for that day. 'Who is
the sick man ? ' he asked. * Oh, he's one Marshall, from
the North — a Protestant, and all his people the same —
and he is asking for the priest. I'm a neighbour of his,
and I heard it from one of his sons, and I thought I
couldn't do better than come for your reverence ; and so
here I am, just in time, thank God.' ' Very well,' said the
priest, ' I will take a cup of tea, borrow a fresh horse, and
be off without delay. Come in and join me, and I will be
ready to start at once.' In half an hour after the two
horsemen rode from the door on their journey through the
forest, and it was not until late at night that, thoroughly
tired, they pulled up before the house of the sick man, who
•was said to be at the point of death. Father Gordon dis-
mounted, and knocked at the door, which was immediately

A STORY STRANGE BUT TRUE. 119

opened by an elderly woman, at whose back stood two
young men. ' What do you want here, at this hour of the
night?' demanded the woman. 'Is there not a sick man
in the house ? ' inquired the priest. ' There is — my husband
— he is dying.' * "Well, I was sent for to see him — I am
the priest.' ' Priest ! ' shrieked the woman, as if the Evil
One stood revealed before her. ' Yes ; I am the priest,
come all the way from Toronto to see him, as he wished
me to do/ was the quiet rejoinder. ' Then you may go as
you came, for no priest will cross this threshold, if I can
help it, no matter who wants to see him / and saying this,
the mistress of the house shut the door on Father Gordon
and his guide, who was overwhelmed with confusion at the
untoward result. 'To think that I should bring your
reverence all this distance, and only to have the door shut
in your face ! I can't forgive myself ; but I did it for the
best.' * To be sure you did, man — you did your duty, no
more ; and I respect you for it. But/ added the priest, ' I
must be turning my horse's head homewards.' * No, your
reverence, not a step you'll go back this blessed night, if
my name is Spillane* ; youll stop at my house — 'tis only a
mile off — and we'll try and make you as comfortable as
we can. It will be time enough to think of returning
to-morrow.' ' Be it so, in God's name/ said Father Gor-
don. They soon reached the house, where a good supper
and a clean bed made some amends for the long ride and
the keen disappointment. The tired missionary was soon
in a deep slumber, in which perhaps he may have beheld
again the group in the doorway, lit up by the flickering
candle, and heard the words, 'No priest will cross this
threshold if I can help it/ when he was suddenly awakened
by a great noise or clatter in the house. At that moment
his host entered the room. ' What is the matter, Spillane ? '
'Why, then, your reverence, it is a strange matter — the
strangest matter I ever heard of; — young Marshall has
brought his father to you, as you wouldn't be allowed to
*Spillane or Sullivan ; I am not certain which.

120 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

come to him,' replied the host. ' You jest, man ; 'tis impos-
sible,' said the priest, in his first impulse of astonish-
ment. 'Faith, then, 'tis no jest at all, your reverence,
but the truth, as I'm a sinner, and that's no lie, any way,'
said Spillane, It was the literal truth. When the dying
man heard how the priest had been denied admission, and
driven from his door, he was intensely afflicted ; but he in
vain sought to move the stern obduracy of his wife. ' Not
one belonging to me ever disgraced himself by turning
Papist, and you shan't be the one to commence.' The
poor woman believed she was only doing her duty, and in
this tranquillising conviction she soon iorgot her troubles
in sleep. But the dying man was inconsolable, and he
moaned and wept in a manner to touch the heart of one
of his sons, to whom he addressed the most earnest en-
treaties that he might be allowed to die as he wished to
die. Moved alike by the tears and importunities of his
father, the son at length yielded. But what was to be
done ? The priest could not enter the house — his mother
would not allow that ; how then could his father's wish be
accomplished? There was only one way of doing it, and
that was quickly resolved upon and adopted. Carefully
wrapping the dying man in the clothes in which he lay,
the son raised him gently on his back, and, stealing softly
with his precious burden, he crossed the threshold with
noiseless step, and bore it a mile through the dark forest
to the house in which the priest found shelter for the
night, and there laid it down in safety. Whether it were
that Nature rallied her failing resources, or that the spirit
rose superior to the frailty of the body, it may be difficult
to say ; but the father preserved strength enough to be
received into the church, and prepared for death, and to be
brought back to his own home, in which he shortly after
breathed his last. For several years, or as long as his
mother lived, the son did not separate from her communion ;
but he afterwards became a Catholic, and is now the wealthy

THE LAST GRAIN OF TEA. 121

head of a large Catholic family, all good and religious, and
full of worldly prosperity.

Father Gordon tells many anecdotes of his missionary
life among his Irish flock ; and however apparently trivial
some of them may appear, they afford glimpses of the
early condition of the settlers in the wilderness. Drenched
to the skin one day in spring, he was compelled to seek
shelter in a shanty ; but such was the state of that dwelling
that it afforded a friendly welcome to the rain, which
entered wherever it pleased through the roof ; and as the
priest lay on the bed, composed of two logs placed in a
corner, while his clothes were being dried at the fire, he
was amused at witnessing the enjoyment of a brood of
young ducks that were disporting themselves in a stream
that ran through the cabin.

It was in a short time after that he rode up to the
door of Mrs. Macnamara, 'all the way from the county
of Cork.' 'Well, Mrs. Mac, have you anything for a poor
traveller ? ' ' 'Deed, then, your reverence, there's a hearty
welcome, and you know that ; and I have a grain of ten,
and the makings of a cake — and sure the're yours with a
heart and a half, and so they would if they were ten times
as much,' said Mrs. Mac. The good woman at once set
about making the cake, which was soon in a forward state
of preparation, and thou, with much solemnity, she pro-
ceeded to ' make the tea,' which, in order to ' draw ' it in
the most scientific manner, she placed in its little black
pot on a corner of the fire, away from the blaze. Mrs.
Mac's stock of candles had long been exhausted, and she
was obliged to be content with the light from the hearth ;
but Father Gordon had to ' pay his debt to the Pope/ and,
in order to read his closely-printed breviary, he was con-
stantly poking the fire with the end of a stick. 'Take care
of the teapot, Father Gordon, dear- — take care of it, for your
life ! ' remonstrated the good woman, as she observed the
reckless vigour with which the priest used the improvised

122 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

poker. 'No fear, ma'am — no fear, ma'am,' he invariably re-
plied. But there was every reason to fear, as the result
proved ; for, in one desperate effort to shed light on the
small print, the priest brought down the entire superstruc-
ture, and with it the cherished teapot, which rolled, empty
and spoutless, on the floor. Here was a disaster! The
poor woman clapped her hands, as she cried, 'Oh, Father
Gordon, jewel ! what did you do ? You broke my teapot,
that I brought from Ireland, every step of the way, and
I so fond of it ! But, Father dear, 'tis worse for you, for
there isn't another grain of tea in the house — and what
will you do ? Oh dear ! oh dear ! ' Father Gordon had,
as penance for his involuntary offence, to wash down the
cake with the water of a neighbouring spring.

No one was more surprised at the changes wrought in
comparatively a few years after, than was Father Gordon,
who witnessed the infancy of the Irish settlements of the
county of Simcoe.

' My dear sir/ said he, ' I could scarcely credit my eye-
sight, it was all so wonderful — like a dream. Fine roads,
and splendid farms, and grand mansions, and horses and
carriages, and noble churches with organs and peals of
bells, and schools — yes, my dear sir, and ladies and gentle-
men, the aristocracy of the country! "What a difference
between what I beheld on my last visit, and what I
remember when I saw the young ducks in the stream
running through the cabin floor, and when poor Mrs. Mac's
last grain of tea was lost in the ashes. Dear, dear ! what
a wonderful change ! God has been very merciful, to our
poor people. I never,' continued the good priest, who
could speak with authority as to his countrymen, whom
during his long life he loved and served with all the zeal
and earnestness of his nature — 'I never knew one of them
that did not succeed, provided he was sober and well-
• conducted. Drink, sir, drink is the great failing of our
race ; and if they had a hundred enemies, that's the worst

FATHER GORDON ON THE IRISH. 123

of all. But, thank God, on the whole, our people are good
and religious, and every day advancing. It is a great
change from what they were in the old country, and a
greater change from what I remember they were thirty
years ago in this.'

To my suggestion that he had had his own share of toil
in those distant days, he replied : ' "Well, my dear sir, no
doubt I had many a hard ride through the forest, and I
often had to depend on my poor horse, as my heavy eyelids
closed while I sat in the saddle, overpowered with fatigue
and want of sleep. But no matter wrhat labour I had to
undergo, I always received my reward in the faith and love
of the people — their delight at seeing their priest, and
hearing his voice — why, sir, it would raise any man's
spirits. And how they kept the faith ! — it was surprising.
For years some would not see a priest ; but still the faith
was there in the mother's heart, and she would teach it to
her children. We have lost some, for there were sheep
without shepherds ; but that we did not lose more, and
that we saved so many in times long gone by, is only to be
attributed to the mercy of God, and the tenacity with
which the Irish cling to their faith. Oh, sir, their devotion,
and their affection, and their gratitude, cheered me many
a time, and made me forget fatigue and trouble of every
kind. God bless them ! they are a good people.'

These were almost the last words I heard from the lips
of that true-hearted Irish priest, for it was of his people he
loved to speak. Father Gordon has lived to see his church
thoroughly organised, divided into several dioceses, each
diocese having an efficient staff of clergymen, with numer-
ous institutions, educational and charitable, under the care
of the religious orders. Of the bishops, four are Irish,
and about one hundred of the clergy are either of Irish
birth or descent. The religious orders also owe much of
their strength to the same great national well-spring of
the faith.

124 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEE VII.

Woolfe Island- -Jimmy Cuffe — A Successful Irishman — Simple
Pat as an Agriculturist — The Land Question in Canada — Wise
Policy of the Canadian Parliament — Happy Results of a Wise
Policy.

THERE is an island in the St. Lawrence, forming the
two channels, the English and the American, through
which the majestic river flows from Lake Ontario to the sea.
"Woolfe Island — for that is the name by which it is known — •
is several miles in length, and about half as many broad.
It is principally occupied by Irish Catholics, who settled
upon it at different periods, not very remote. For a time
the land was held partly by lease, and for a term of twenty-
one years — a description of tenure altogether exceptional
in a country in which freehold or fee-simple, in other words,
absolute ownership, is almost universal.

In other countries a lease for twenty-one years might be
regarded with favour, and under certain circumstances
would be considered a security for mere outlay in cultiva-
tion. It is so in Scotland ; but in America, where absolute
and undisputed ownership is the rule, a tenure of this
limited nature is rather a discouragement than a stimulus
to exertion. And it may be remarked, that by proprietors
of large tracts of land, who desire to see them occupied and
cultivated, letting by lease is not much approved of ; they
prefer to sell it in lots, on such terms as may suit both
parties, and possibly enable the person who sells to turr
the purchase-money to other purposes. And when land
falls into the possession of creditor or mortgagee, the new
owner generally finds it more convenient and profitable to

WOOLFE ISLAND. 126

get lid of it by sale than to let it by lease of whatever
term, and thus assume the responsibility and incur the risk
incidental to the position of a landlord. The genius of
the people, the very instinct of the community, is in favour
of entire and unrestricted ownership, through which alone
the forests have been turned into fields of grain and pas-
ture, and America has been civilised and peopled.

The proprietor of a vast property on Woolfe Island de-
termined to announce it for sale ; and no sooner did he
do so, than the Irish tenants put forth the most extraordi-
nary energy, in order to become the owners of their farms.
It seemed as if new life had been infused into them by
the hope of possessing as proprietors the land they rented
as tenants ; and such was the success of their exertions,
that they, or the great majority of them, were enabled to
purchase their lots.

As the island, with the exception of such portions of it as
had been cleared, was covered with forest, like most of the
land of Canada, the settlers of Woolfe Island had to un-
dergo the ordinary hardships incidental to all similar
efforts ; but as they were not many miles from a fine town
and a good market, they possessed advantages not usual
with the genuine pioneer of civilisation, who buries him-
self in the depths of the woods, and is himself the author of
everything that follows. Still the advantages of the thriv-
ing town and the unfailing market were not unattended
with countervailing risk ; for the nearness of the town
offered to the settlers of the island temptations which
many lacked the necessary fortitude to resist. It frequently
occurred that the profits of a good season were sacrificed
to the fascinations of boon-companionship, and the indul-
gence of a passion especially fatal to the Irishman. The
evil was assuming alarming proportions, when, some dozen
years since, an Irish priest — the Kev. Mr. Foley — resolved
to grapple with it ; and so powerfully and persuasively did
he plead the cause of prudence and sobriety, so strenuously

120 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

did lie wrestle with, the veteran drinkers — the ' hard cases/
as they were called — and such was his influence with the
young, that he succeeded in a short time in enrolling 800
male residents, of all ages, from the vigorous stripling to
the grey-haired grandsire, in the ranks of temperance.
The result was magical. Soon there was not in all Canada
a more prosperous or progressive settlement than that of
Woolfe Island. The good priest died in the midst of his
labours, and, as was customary, would have been buried in
the Cathedral of Kingston ; but so beloved was he by the
people to whom he had been father and pastor, that they
would not permit his honoured remains to be removed
from the island ; and the grave in which they rest is re-
garded with veneration by those who remember his holy
life, and the zeal with which he watched over the temporal
interests as well as the spiritual welfare of his flock. The
islanders remain faithful to the advice of their pastor, and
as a consequence certain to follow from the avoidance of
a fruitful cause of danger, they are happy and contented,
and every year they are advancing in prosperity. The
case of one of these settlers will illustrate that of many.

It is now about seventeen years since a little Irishman
from Roscommon, named James Cuffee, settled in the island.
Low-sized, but broad-shouldered, well-knit and vigorous
as a 'four year old,' Jimmy Cuffee, like thousands of his
race in America, possessed only that species of capital
which may be easily carried across ocean and over moun-
tain— which rust cannot consume nor moth devour, but
which, although the wonder-worker of civilisation, is often
blindly despised by those who will alone believe in bullion
or bank notes ; it consisted of his strong pair of arms and
his brave heart. Literally, he had not a penny in his
pocket ; nor indeed — at that time at least — could he ' take
a shine ' out of his reading and writing. But so resolutely
did the little Connaught man — in whose composition, it may
be remarked, there was not the faintest suspicion of the

JIMMY CUFFE, THE ROSCOMMON BOY. 127

Anglo-Saxon — labour at his calling, 'morning and night,
early and late/ that he rapidly became a thriving man ;
and Jimmy Cuffe is now the proprietor in fee-simple of
800 acres of rich land, which it would be difficult to match
in Roscommon; with a fine house, a stable full of good
horses, spacious barns, cattle and stock of every kind — in
a word, everything that the heart of any rational Irishman
could desire. He drives his family to church in a spring
waggon, drawn by a pair of good horses, ' as grand as the
Lord Mayor of London, or as any real gentleman in the
ould country.' I happened to be in Kingston the day
Jimmy Cuffe came in to take up the bill on which he had
raised the purchase-money for his latest acquisition of 200
acres. It was rather a large sum, but the produce of his
harvest enabled him to do so without embarrassment. And
Jimmy's sharp grey eye glistened, as he told how he had
got along, and succeeded not only in 'making a man of
himself, thank God,' but — what pleased him quite as much
— in buying out the old settlers — a class rather inclined to
think little of what the Jimmy Cuffes can do. It is much
to be doubted if Jimmy Cuffe would change places with a
lord in the old country. The lord, as is usually the case,
owes his position to his ancestors — Jimmy Cuffe, under
Providence, owes everything to his industry, energy, and
self-denial. Possibly, in the estimation of some people,
the balance of merit may be in favour of the sturdy settler
from Roscommon. Thankfully be it said, there are many
Jimmy Cuffes in America.

Cases of a somewhat similar nature might be multiplied
to any extent, all illustrative of the manly vigour of the
Irish race, and of what great things they are capable
when they have a fair field for their energies.

Living near a thriving city in Western Canada, is a hale
and vigorous Irishman, well advanced in years, who, as a
day labourer, broke stones on the public road not far from
the very spot on which stands his splendid residence, one

128 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of the most elegant in the country. Like a wise man, he
took the first work that offered, and it prospered with him.
He rejoices in an unmistakable Irish name, smacking of
the ' ould ancient kings ; ' and there is not in all Canada a
stauncher adherent to the ancient faith. "When he came
out to America — more than thirty years ago— a priest was
rarely to be seen near where he settled, and it was only by
great effort, at no small sacrifice of time and labour, that
he could avail himself of the consolations of religion ; but
he was determined that, above all things, he would trans-
mit to his children the precious deposit which he had
himself received from his simple but pious parents. Be-
tween the Saturday evening, when his week's work was
over, and the Monday morning, when another week of
labour commenced, this devoted Catholic would constantly
walk a distance of between forty and fifty miles, to attend
Mass and perform the duties enjoined by his church. And
when his children grew in strength, he would make them
the companions of his journey. Not a few of this good
man's descendants have abandoned a home of luxury to
devote themselves to a religious life, and are now diffusing
among the youth of their own race and faith the lessons of
piety which they learned from the lips of an honoured
parent. Men of his stamp are the glory of their country.

A recent striking instance of progress made by the Irish
may be mentioned. The Bishop of Kingston — Dr. Horan —
in visiting a settlement, of which the first tree had been
cut only five years before, was received by one hundred of
the settlers, each driving his own waggon and pair of horses.
Preceded by a green banner, and a band of music obtained
from a neighbouring town, these sturdy Celts conducted
their good bishop in triumph into the heart of their pros-
perous settlement. That was a day of well-earned jubilee.

In fully twenty of the counties of Upper or Western
Canada there are thriving settlements either exclusively or
principally occupied by Irish Catholics ; while the Catholic

SIMPLE PAT AS AN AGRICULTURIST. 129

Irish are to be found in every direction, often in the midst
of Protestant settlements, whether Irish, Scotch, or
English.

Something may here be said of the Irish agriculturist,
as compared with his brethren from the sister kingdoms.
As may be supposed, by those who know anything of the
state of things in different parts of the United Kingdom,
the Scotch and English farmers who settle in America
bring with them — have brought with them — besides more or
less capital in money, a knowledge and skill not possessed
by those who emigrated from Ireland. It must be admit-
ted that in Great Britain the science of agriculture has
advanced to a degree of perfection to which, even under the
most favourable circumstances, Ireland cannot aspire for
many years yet to come. Thus it necessarily follows that
while the Irishman is in no way inferior to the Englishman
or Scotchman in industry or energy, capacity for labour or
power of endurance, he is so in theoretical knowledge, and
the management of land on the principles of c high farming.'
Considering the relative condition of the three countries,
this is what may be looked for. But the Irishman, even
though he may not be able to write his name, is wonder-
fully shrewd and observant ; and before his self-complacent
neighbour imagines that simple Pat has even perceived
what he was about, simple Pat has borrowed his improve-
ment, and actually made his own of it. It is amusing to
hear a poor fellow, who had little inducement for enter-
prise in his own country, dealing in the most daring
manner with scientific terms, picked up from his Lothian
or Yorkshire neighbour, and calling things by names that
would puzzle a Liebig. But still there is no mistake in
his application of the principle ; for though he makes a
fearful hash of the name, simple Pat has caught fast hold
of the thing, as witness the a'ppearance of his land and the
abundance of his crops. It occasionally happens that
townships belonging to the three nationalities adjoin ; and

130 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

wherever this is the case, the result is a healthful rivalry,
productive of general advantage. In the new county of
Victoria, in Central Canada, there is an instance of this
propinquity. Three townships, almost exclusively belong-
ing to English, Scotch, and Irish settlers, lie alongside
each other ; and between the three there exists a spirit of
emulation, keen but amicable, as to which produces the
largest crops, and cultivates the land in the most skilful
manner. The result is told by an eminent Irishman, a man
much respected in his district, and whose most cherished
ambition is to see his countrymen raise themselves higher
in the estimation of the world by the exercise of their
great natural gifts : — * I am happy and proud to say that
'our countrymen have proved themselves to be equal in
' every respect to those from the sister kingdoms. To my
1 mind, the Irish township, according to its numbers, pro-
' duces the largest crops.' And he adds, ' Rely on it, if your
' countrymen at home had the same freedom of action, the
t same sense of security and certainty of reward, that they
' have in our free Canada, they would enjoy in their own
' country the same prosperity which they enjoy here.'

To me, the proposition seems consistent with reason and
common sense, though fanatical sticklers for imaginary
' rights of property ' may regard it as little better than rank
blasphemy.

It will be interesting to see how the Canadian Parlia-
ment dealt, not long since, with the Land Question of the
Lower Province. Fortunately for the public welfare,
the earnest attention of the Canadian Legislature was
directed to the tenure by which the cultivators occupied
the soil, and especially to the obligations and restrictions
imposed by its conditions upon that most important class
of the community ; and in 1861 an Act was passed, which
has had, and must continue to have, a marked influence
on the prosperity of the province.

The land had been originally parcelled out among a

WISE POLICY OF THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT. 131

number of great proprietors, who derived their vast estates
directly from the Kings of France. "Without entering into
the history of these grants, or the manner in which the
land was gradually occupied by the cultivators, who came
as settlers, it is sufficient to state that the evils with which
the Legislature had to deal did not arise so much from the
burden of the rent, or the duration of the tenure, as from
the ' rights ' which the proprietors reserved to themselves.
The rent was so small as to be merely nominal, in fact a
few halfpence per acre ; but the 'rights' — which restricted
the liberty of the tenant, interfered with the free transfer
of property, and prevented the progress of the country —
were the cause of the discontent that existed, and which it
was the object of the Legislature to allay. One of the
so-called ' casual rights ' was the exclusive mill and water-
power reserved to himself by the feudal lord. Not only was
the censitaire, or tenant, compelled to grind his corn at
the landlord's mill, but the latter monopolised the water-
power within his territory, thus hampering the industry
and enterprise of the district. The other 'right' was that
by which, on every sale and transfer of property, the one-
twelfth of the amount of the purchase-money was paid to
the landlord. Say that A bought property from B, to the
value of 120/., A, in addition to paying B the sum of 120/.
as the purchase-money for his interest, had also to pay
another one-twelfth, or 10/. more, to the landlord ; and
what rendered the exercise of this 'right' more oppressive
and detrimental, was the fact that on every re-sale of the
same property the same process of paying one-twelfth to
the seignior had to be gone through. If the property were
improved in value, the seller would no doubt receive a
larger price for his interest ; but the seignior's one-twelfth
would be the greater in consequence of the increased value
of the whole. This one-twelfth so reserved to the seignior
was termed a 'mutation fine.'

To get rid of this intolerable grievance, which was

132 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

properly regarded as a grave public evil as well as indi-
vidual oppression, the Canadian Legislature passed a law
alike vigorous and comprehensive. The 'casual rights,'
specially including those mentioned, were bought by the
State at a cost little short of One Million Sterling ; and
an arrangement was made for the capitalisation and pur-
chase of the rent by the tenant, and its compulsory sale by
the landlord. Here was an instance of serious danger
wisely averted by a measure which in the British Parlia-
ment would possibly be considered revolutionary, if not
altogether confiscatory in its character. But statesmen in
new countries are either more vigorous or more far-seeing
than statesmen in old countries, who are trammelled by
traditions and enfeebled by prejudices ; besides, the very
instinct of a young nation is to remove from its path every
visible impediment to its progress.

The spirit in which this beneficent law was conceived
will be best understood from a passage taken from its
preamble, and another from its concluding clause.

The Preamble says : ' Whereas it is expedient to abolish
' all Feudal Eights and Duties in Lower Canada ; and
' whereas, in consideration of the great advantages which
' must result to the Province from their abolition, and the
' substitution of a free tenure for that under which the
* property subject thereto hath heretofore been sold,' &c.

The concluding clause is still more emphatic. It pro-
claims that — ' The Legislature reserves the right of making
'any provisions, declaratory or otherwise, which may be
' found necessary for the purpose of fully carrying out the
( intention of this Act ; which in intent is declared to be,
' to abolish as soon as possible all feudal or seignorial
' rights, duties, dues, &c. . . . And to aid the censitaire out
c of the provincial funds in the redemption of those seign-
' orial charges which interfere most injuriously with his inde-
pendence, industry, and enterprise; and every enactment
'and provision in this Act shall receive the most liberal

HAPPY RESULTS OF A WISE POLICY. 133

*

'construction possible, with a view to ensure the accom-
'plishraent of the intention of the Legislature as hereby
' stated.'

The wise action of the Canadian Parliament at once
arrested and removed the deep-seated feeling of discontent
which was hourly increasing in intensity. From the example
of the Canadian Legislature even the Parliament of the
mother country may derive a valuable suggestion as to the
abolition of those ' seignorial rights, duties, dues,' &c., and
the redemption, or at least adjustment, of those charges
' wrhich interfere most injuriously with the independence,
c industry, and enterprise ' of the censitaire of Ireland. The
parent need not be ashamed to learn a lesson from the
child, especially when the wisdom of that child's policy is
proved beyond the possibility of doubt.

134 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEE VIII.

The Irish Exodus — The Quarantine at Grosse Isle — The Fever
Sheds — Horrors of the Plague— The • Unknown '—The Irish
Orphans — The Good Canadians- -Resistless Eloquence — One of
the Orphans — The Forgotten Name — The Plague in Montreal —
How the Irish died— The Monument at Point St. Charles— The
Gravemound in Kingston — An illustrious Victim in Toronto —
How the Survivors pushed on — The Irish in the Cities of Upper
Canada— The Education System— The Dark Shadow— The
Poison of Orangeism — The only drawback.

I HAVE more than once referred to the unfavourable
circumstances under which the vast majority of the
Irish arrived in America, and the difficulties with which,
in a special degree, they had to contend ; but the picture
would be most imperfect were not some reference made to
the disastrous emigration of the years 1847 and 1848 — to
that blind and desperate rush across the Atlantic known
and described, and to be recognised for time to come, as the
Irish Exodus. "We shall confine our present reference to
the emigration to Canada, and track its course up the waters
of the St. Lawrence. A glance even at a single quarantine
— that of Grosse Isle, in the St. Lawrence, about thirty
miles below Quebec — while affording a faint idea of the
horrors crowded into a few months, may enable the reader
to understand with what alarm the advent of the Irish was
regarded by the well-to-do colonists of British America ;
and how the natural terror they inspired, through the
terrible disease brought with them across the ocean,
deepened the prejudice against them, notwithstanding that
their sufferings and misery appealed to the best sympathies
of the human heart.

On the 8th of May, 1847, the ' Urania,' from Cork, with
several hundred immigrants on board, a large proportion
of them sick and dying of the ship-fever, was put into
quarantine at Grosse Isle. This was the first of the plague-

THE IRISH EXODUS— THE SHIP FEVER. 135

smitten ships from Ireland which that year sailed up the
St. Lawrence. But before the first week of June as many
as eighty-four ships of various tonnage were driven in by an
easterly wind ; and of that enormous number of vessels
there was not one free from the taint of malignant typhus,
the offspring of famine and of the foul ship-hold. This
fleet of vessels literally reeked with pestilence. All sailing
vessels, — the merciful speed of the well-appointed steamer
being unknown to the emigrant of those days, — a tolerably
quick passage occupied from six to eight weeks ; while pas-
sages of ten or twelve weeks, and even a longer time, were
not considered at all extraordinary at a period when craft
of every kind, the most unsuited as well as the least sea-
worthy, were pressed into the service of human deportation.

Who can imagine the horrors of even the shortest pas-
sage in an emigrant ship crowded beyond its utmost capa-
bility of stowage with unhappy beings of all ages, with
fever raging in their midst ? Under the most favourable
circumstances it is impossible to maintain perfect purity of
atmosphere between decks, even when ports are open, and
every device is adopted to secure the greatest amount of
ventilation. But a crowded emigrant sailing ship of twenty
years since, with fever on board ! — the crew sullen or brutal
from very desperation, or paralysed with terror of the
plague — the miserable passengers unable to help them-
selves, or afford the least relief to each other ; one-fourth,
or one-third, or one-half of the entire number in different
stages of the disease ; many dying, some dead ; the fatal
poison intensified by the indescribable foulness of the air
breathed and rebreathed by the gasping sufferers — the
wails of children, the ravings of the delirious, the cries and
groans of those in mortal agony ! Of the eighty-four emi-
grant ships that anchored at Grosse Isle in the summer of
1847, there was not a single one to which this description
might not rightly apply.

The authorities were taken by surprise, owing to the

136 THE IRISH IX AMERICA.

sudden arrival of this plague-smitten fleet, and, save the
sheds that remained since 1832, there was no accommoda-
tion of any kind on the island. These sheds were rapidly
filled with the miserable people, the sick and the dying,
and round their walls lay groups of half-naked men,
women, and children, in the same condition — sick or dying.
Hundreds were literally flung on the beach, left amid the
mud and stones, to crawl on the dry land how they could.
' I have seen,' says the priest who was then chaplain of the
quarantine, and who had been but one year on the mission,
' I have one day seen thirty-seven people lying on the beach,
' crawling on the mud, and dying like fish out of water.'
Many of these, and many more besides, gasped out their
last breath on that fatal shore, not able to drag them-
selves from the slime in which they lay. Death was doing
its work everywhere — in the sheds, around the sheds,
where the victims lay in hundreds under the canopy of
heaven, and in the poisonous holds of the plague-ships,
all of which were declared to be, and treated as, hos-
pitals.

From ship to ship the young Irish priest carried the
consolations of religion to the dying. Amidst shrieks, and
groans, and wild ravings, and heart-rending lamentations,
— over prostrate sufferers in every stage of the sickness —
from loathsome berth to loathsome berth, he pursued his
holy task. So noxious was the pent-up atmosphere of these
floating pest-houses, that he had frequently to rush on
deck, to breathe the pure air, or to relieve his over-taxed
stomach ; then he would again plunge into the foul den,
and resume his interrupted labours.

There being, at first, no organisation, no staff, no avail-
able resources, it may be imagined why the mortality rose
to a prodigious rate, and how at one time as many as 150
bodies, most of them in a half-naked state, would be piled
up in the dead-house, awaiting such sepultiire as a huge
pit could afford. Poor creatures would crawl out of the

HORRORS OF GROSSE ISLR 137

sheds, and beiiig too exhausted fco return, would be found
lying in the open air, not a few of them rigid in death.
When the authorities were enabled to erect sheds sufficient
for the reception of the sick, and provide a staff of phy-
sicians and nurses, and the Archbishop of Quebec had
appointed a number of priests, who took the hospital duty
in turn, there was of course more order and regularity ;
but the mortality was for a time scarcely diminished. The
deaths were as many as 100, and 150, and even 200 a day,
and this for a considerable period during the summer.
The masters of the quarantine-bound ships were naturally
desirous of getting rid as speedily as possible of their
dangerous and unprofitable freight ; and the manner in
which the helpless people were landed, or thrown, on the
island, aggravated their sufferings, and in a vast number
of instances precipitated their fate. Then the hunger and
thirst from which they suffered in the badly-found ships,
between whose crowded and stifling decks they had
been so long pent up, had so far destroyed their vital
energy, that they had but little chance of life when once
struck down.

About the middle of June the young chaplain was
attacked by the pestilence. For ten days he had not
taken off his clothes, and his boots, which he constantly
wore for all that time, had to be cut from his feet. A
couple of months elapsed before he resumed his duties ;
but when he returned to his post of danger the mortality
was still of fearful magnitude. Several priests, a few
Irish, the majority French Canadians, caught the infec-
tion ; and of the twenty-five who were attacked, seven
paid with their lives the penalty of their devotion. Not a
few of these men were professors in colleges ; but at the
appeal of the Archbishop they left their classes and their
studies for the horrors and perils of the fever sheds.

It was not until the 1st of November that the quaran-
tine of Grosse Isle was closed. Upon that barren isle as

138 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

many as 10,000 of the Irish race were consigned to the
grave-pit. By some the estimate is made much higher, and
12,000 is considered nearer the actual number. A register
was kept, and is still in -existence, but it does not com-
mence earlier than June 16, when the mortality was nearly
at its height. According to this death-roll, there were
buried, between the 16th and 30th of June, 487 Irish immi-
grants 'whose names could not be ascertained.' In July,
941 were thrown into nameless graves ; and in August,
918 were entered in the register under the comprehensive
description — 'unknown.' There were interred, from the
16th of June to the closing of the quarantine for that year,
2,905 of a Christian people, whose names could not be
discovered amidst the confusion and carnage of that fatal
summer. In the following year, 2,000 additional victims
were entered in the same register, without name or trace
of any kind, to tell who they were, or whence they had
come. Thus 5,000 out of the total number of victims were
simply described as 'unknown.'

This deplorable havoc of human life left hundreds of or-
phans dependent on the compassion of the public ; and
nobly was the unconscious appeal of this multitude of des-
titute little ones responded to by the French Canadians.
Half naked, squalid, covered with vermin generated by
hunger, fever, and the foulness of the ship's hold, perhaps
with the germs of the plague lurking in their vitiated
blood, these helpless innocents of every age — from the
infant taken from the bosom of its dead mother to the
child that could barely tell the name of its parents — were
gathered under the fostering protection of -the Church.
They were washed, and clad, and fed ; and every effort was
made by the clergy and nuns who took them into their
charge to discover who they were, what their names, and
which of them were related the one to the other, so that, if
possible, children of the same family might not be sepa-
rated for ever. A difficult thing it was to learn from mere

THE GOOD CANADIANS. 139

infants whether, among more than 600 orphans, they had
brothers or sisters. But by patiently observing the little
creatures when they found strength and courage to play,
their watchful protectors were enabled to find out relation-
ships which, without such care, would have been otherwise
unknown. If one infant ran to meet another, or caught
its hand, or smiled at it, or kissed it, or showed pleasure
in its society, here was a clue to be followed ; and in many
instances children of the same parents were thus preserved
to each other. Many more, of course, were separated for
ever, as these children were too young to tell their own
names, or do anything save cry in piteous accents for
' mammy, mammy ! ' until soothed to slumber in the arms
of a compassionate Sister.

The greater portion of the orphans of the Grosse Isle
tragedy were adopted by the French Canadians, who were
appealed to by their cures at the earnest request of Father
Cazeau, then Secretary to the Archbishop, and now one of
the Vicars General of the Archdiocese of Quebec. M.
Cazeau is one of the ablest of the ecclesiastics of the Cana-
dian Church, and is no less remarkable for worth and ability
than for the generous interest he has ever exhibited for the
Irish people. Father Cazeau had employed his powerful
influence with the country clergy to provide for the greater
number of the children ; but some 200 still remained in a
building specially set apart for them, and this is how these
200 Irish orphans were likewise provided for :

Monseigneur Baillargeon, Bishop of Quebec, was then curd
of the city. He had received three or four of the orphans
into his own house, and among them a beautiful boy of
two years, or perhaps somewhat younger. The others had
been taken from him and adopted by the kindly habitant,
and become part of their families; but the little fellow,
who was the curd's special pet, remained with him for
nearly two years. From creeping up and down stairs, and
toddling about in every direction, he soon began to grow

HO THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

strong, and bold, and noisy, as a fine healthy child would
be ; but though his fond protector rejoiced in the health
and beauty of the boy, he found him rather unsuited to
the quiet gravity of a priest's house, and a decided ob-
stacle to study and meditation. In the midst of his
perplexity, of which the child was the unconscious cause
to the Curd of Quebec, a clergyman from the country
arrived in town. This priest visited M. Baillargeon, who
told him that he had 200 poor orphan children — the child-
ren of ' the faithful Catholic Irish ' — still unprovided with a
home, and he was most anxious that his visitor should call
on his parishioners to take them. 'Come/ said he 'I
will show you a sample of them, and you can tell your
people what they are like.' Saying this, M. Baillargeon
led his visitor up stairs, and into the room where, in a
little cot, the orphan child was lying in rosy sleep. As
the light fell upon the features of the beautiful boy, who
was reposing in all the unrivalled grace of infancy, the
country cure was greatly touched : he had never, he said,
seen a ' lovelier little angel ' in his life. ' Well,' said M,
Baillargeon, 'I have 200 more as handsome. Take him
with you, show him to your people, and tell them to come
for the others.' That very night the boat in which he
was to reach his parish was to start ; and the cure wrapped
the infant carefully in the blanket in which he lay, and,
without disturbing his slumber, bore him off to the boat,
a valued prize.

The next Sunday a strange sight was witnessed in the
parish church of which the curd was the pastor: The
priest was seen issuing from the sacristy, holding in his
arms a boy of singular beauty, whose little hands were
tightly clasped, half in terror, half in excitement, round
the neck of his bearer. Every eye was turned towards this
strange spectacle, and the most intense curiosity was felt
by the congregation, in a greater degree by the women,

RESISTLESS ELOQUENCE. • 141

especially those who were mothers, to learn what it meant.
It was soon explained by their pastor, who said : —

'Look at this little boy! Poor infant! (Here the cure
embraced him). Look at his noble forehead, his bright
eyes, his curling hair, his mouth like a cherub's ! Oh,
what a beautiful boy ! (Another embrace, the half-terrified
child clinging closer to the priest's breast, his^ tears drop-
ping fast upon the surplice. ) ' Look, my dear friends, at
this beautiful child, who has been sent by God to our care.
There are 200 as beautiful children as this poor forlorn
infant. They were starved out of their own country by
bad laws, and their fathers and their poor mothers now He
in the great grave at Grosse Isle. Poor mothers! they
could not remain with their little ones. You will bo
mothers to them. The father died, and the mother died ;
but before she died, the pious mother — the Irish Catholic
mother — left them to the good God, and the good God
now gives them to you. Mothers, you will not refuse the
gift of the good God! (The kindly people responded to
this appeal with tears and gestures of passionate assent.)
Go quickly to Quebec ; there you will find these orphan
children — these gifts offered to you by the good God — go
quickly — go to-morrow — lose not a moment — take them
and carry them to your homes, and they will bring a
blessing on you and your families. I say, go to-morrow
without fail, or others may be before you. Yes, dear
friends, they will be a blessing to you as they grow up, a
strong healthy race — fine women, and fine men, like this
beautiful boy. Poor child, you will be sure to find a
r.econd mother in this congregation.' (Another em-
brace, the little fellow's tears flowing more abundantly ;
every eye in the church glistening with responsive
sympathy).

This was the curd's sermon, and it may be doubted if
Bossuet or Fenelon ever produced a like effect. Next day
there was to be seen a long procession of waggons moving

142 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

towards Quebec ; and oil the evening of that day there was
not one of the 200 Irish orphans that had not been brought
to a Canadian home, there to be nurtured with tenderness
and love, as the gift of the Bon Dieu. Possibly, in some
instances that tenderness and love were not requited in
after life, but in most instances the Irish orphan brought a
blessing to the hearth of its adopted parents. The boy
whose beauty and whose tears so powerfully assisted the
simple oratory of the good cure, is now one of the ablest
lawyers in Quebec — -but a French Canadian in every respect
save in birth and blood.

As soon as good food and tender care had restored
vigour to their youthful limbs, the majority of the orphans
played in happy unconsciousness of their bereavement ;
but there were others, a few years older, on whom the
horrors of Grossc Isle had made a lasting impression.

A decent couple had sailed in one of the ships, bringing
with them two girls and a boy, the elder of the former
being about thirteen, the boy not more than seven or eight.
The father died first, the mother next. As the affrighted
children knelt by their dying mother, the poor woman,
strong in her faith, with her last accents confided her help-
less offspring to 'the protection of God and His Blessed
Mother,' and told them to have confidence in the Father
of the widow and the orphan. Lovingly did the cold hand
linger on the head of her boy, as, with expiring energy,
she invoked a blessing upon him and his weeping sisters.
Thus the pious mother died in the fever-shed of Grosse Isle.
The children were taken care of, and sent to the. same
district, so as not to be separated from each other. The
boy was received into the home of a French Canadian ; his
sisters were adopted by another family in the neighbour-
hood. For two weeks the boy never uttered a word, never
smiled, never appeared conscious of the presence of those
around him, or of the attention lavished on him by his
generous protectors, who had almost come to believe

ONE OF THE ORPHANS OF THE PLAGUE. 1-U

that they had adopted a little mute, or that he had momen-
tarily lost the power of speech through fright or starvation.
But at the end of the fortnight he relieved them of their
fears by uttering some words of, to them, an unknown
language ; and from that moment the spell, wrought, as it
were, by the cold hand o'f his dying mother, passed from
the spirit of the boy, and he thenceforth clung with the
fondness of youth to his second parents. The Irish
orphan soon spoke the language of his new home, though
he never lost the memory of the fever-sheds and the awful
death-bed, or of his w,eeping sisters, and the last words
spoken by the faithful Christian woman who commended
him to the protection of God and His Blessed Mother.
He grew up a youth of extraordinary promise, and was
received into the college of Nicolet, then in the diocese of
Quebec, where he graduated with the greatest honours,
His vocation being for the Church, he became a priest ; and
it was in 1865 that, as a deacon, he entered the College of
St. Michael, near Toronto, to learn the language of his
parents, of which he had lost all remembrance. He is now
one of the most distinguished professors of the college in
which he was educated ; and, in order to pay back the
debt incurred by his support and education, he does not
accept more than a small stipend for his services. Of his
Irish name, which he was able to retain, he is very proud ;
and though his tongue is more that of a French Canadian,
his feelings and sympathies are with the people and the
country of his birth. The prayers of the dying mother
were indeed heard ; for the elder of the girls was married
by the gentleman who received them both into his house,
and the younger is in a convent.

Absorbed thus into the families of the French-speaking
population, even the older Irish orphans soon lost almost
every memory of their former home and of their parents,
and grew up French Canadians in every respect save the
more vigorous constitution for which -they were indebted

144 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to nature. It is not, therefore, a rare thing to behold a
tall, strapping, fair-skinned young fellow, with an unmis-
takable Irish name, and an unmistakable Irish face, who
speaks and thinks as a French , Canadian. Thus genuine
Irish names — as Cassidy, or Lonergan, or Sullivan, or
Quinn, or Murphy — are to be heard of at this day in many
of the homes of the kindly habitans of Lower Canada.

Though it was the humane policy of those who took care
of the orphans of Grosse Isle to keep the same family in
the same neighbourhood, so as not to separate brother
from sister, it has happened that a brother has been reared
by a French family, and a sister by an Irish, or English-
speaking, family ; and when the orphans have been brought
together by their adopted parents, they could only express
their emotions by embraces and tears — the language of the
heart.

* In some, but rare instances, visions of the past have
haunted the memory of Irish orphans in their new homes.
One of these, a young girl who bore the name of her pro-
tectors, was possessed with a passionate longing to learn
her real name, and to know something of her parents. A
once familiar sound, which she somehow associated with
her former name, floated through her brain, vague and in-
distinct, but ever present. The longing to ascertain who
she was, and whether either of her parents was still living,
grew into an absorbing passion, which preyed upon her
health. She would frequently write what expressed her
recollection of the name she had once borne, and which she
thought she had been called in her infancy by those who
loved her. The desire to clear up the doubt becoming at
length uncontrollable, she implored the cure of her parish
to institute inquiries in her behalf. Written in French
characters, nearly all resemblance to the supposed name
was lost ; but through the aid of inquiries set on foot by
Father Dowd, the Parish Priest of St. Patrick's, in Mon-
treal, and guided by the faint indication afforded by what

THE PLAGUE IN MONTREAL. U5

resembled a sound more than a sirname, it was discovered
that her mother had taken her out to America in 1847,
and that her father had never quitted Ireland. A com-
munication was at once established between father and
child ; and from that moment the girl began to recover
her health, which had been nearly sacrificed to her pas-
sionate yearning.

The horrors of Grosse Isle had their counterpart in
Montreal.

As in Quebec, the mortality was greater in 1847 than in
the year following ; but it was not till the close of 1848 that
the plague might be said to be extinguished, not without
fearful sacrifice of life. During the months of June, July,
August, and September, the season when nature wears her
most glorious garb of loveliness, as many as eleven hun-
dred of ' the faithful Irish,' as the Canadian priest truly de-
scribed them, were lying at one time in the fever-sheds at
Point St. Charles, in which rough wooden beds were placed
in rows, and so close as scarcely to admit of room to pass.
In these miserable cribs the patients lay, sometimes two
together, looking, as a Sister of Charity since wrote, ' as if
they were in their coffins,' from the box-like appearance of
their wretched beds. Throughout those glorious months,
while the sun shone brightly, and the majestic river rolled
along in golden waves, hundreds of the poor Irish were
dying daily. The world outside was gay and glad, but death
was rioting in the fever-sheds. It was a moment to try
the devotion which religion inspires, to test the courage
with which it animates the gentlest breast. First came
the Grey Nuns, strong in love and faith ; but so malignant
was the disease, that thirty of their number were stricken
down, and thirteen died the death of martyrs. There was
no faltering, no holding back ; no sooner were the ranks
thinned by death than the gaps were quickly filled; and
when the Grey Nuns were driven to the last extremity,
the Sisters of Providence came to their assistance, and

7

146 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

took their place by the side of the dying strangers. But
when even their aid did not suffice to meet the emergency,
the Sisters of St. Joseph, though cloistered nuns, received
the permission of the Bishop to share with their sister
religious the hardships and dangers of labour by day and
night.

'I am the only one left/ were the thrilling words in
which the surviving priest announced from the pulpit the
ravages that the ' ocean plague ' had made in the ranks of
the clergy. With a single exception, the local priests were
either sick or dead. Eight of the number fell at their
post, true to their duty. The good Bishop, Monseigneur
Bourget, then went himself, to take his turn in the lazar-
house; but the enemy was too mighty for his zeal, and
having remained in the discharge of his self-imposed task
for a day and a night, he contracted the fever, and was
carried home to a sick-bed, where he lay for weeks, hover-
ing between life and death, amid the tears and prayers of
his people, to whom Providence restored him after a period
of intense anxiety to them, and long and weary suffering
to him.

When the city priests were found inadequate to the dis-
charge of their pressing duties, the country priests cheer-
fully responded to the call of their Bishop, and came to
the assistance of their brethren ; and of the country priests
not a few found the grave and the crown of the martyr.

Among the priests who fell a sacrifice to their duty in
the fever-sheds of Montreal was Father Richards, a vener-
able man, long past the time of active service. A convert
from Methodism in early life, he had specially devoted his
services to the Irish, then but a very small proportion of
the population ; and now, when the cry of distress from the
same race was heard, the good old man could not be re-
strained from ministering to their wants. Not only did he
mainly provide for the safety of the hundreds of orphan
children, whom the death of their parents had left to the

HOW THE IRISH DIED. 147

mercy of the charitable, but, in spite of his great age, he
laboured in the sheds with a zeal which could not be
excelled.

' Father Kichards wants fresh straw for the beds,' said
the messenger to the mayor.

' Certainly, he shall have it : I wish it was gold, for his
sake,' replied the mayor.

A few days after both Protestant mayor and Catholic
priest ' had gone where straw and gold are of equal value/
wrote the Sister already mentioned. Both had died mar-
tyrs of charity.

Only a few days before Father Richards was seized with
his fatal illness he preached on Sunday in St. Patrick's,
and none who heard him on that occasion could forget the
venerable appearance and impressive words of that noble
servant of God. Addressing a hushed and sorrow-stricken
audience, as the tears rolled down his aged cheeks, he
thus spoke of the sufferings and the faith of the Irish : —

' Oh, my beloved brethren, grieve not, I beseech you,
for the sufferings and death of so many of your race,
perchance your kindred, who have fallen, and are still to
fall, victims to this fearful pestilence. Their patience,
their faith, have edified all whose privilege it was to wit-
ness it. Their faith, their resignation to the will of God
under such unprecedented misery, is something so extra-
ordinary that, to realise it, it requires to be seen. Oh, my
brethren, grieve not for them ; they did but pass from
earth to the glory of heaven. True, they were cast in
heaps into the earth, their place of sepulture marked by
no name or epitaph ; but I tell you, my dearly beloved
brethren, that from their ashes the faith will spring up
along the St. Lawrence, for they died martyrs, as they lived
confessors, to the faith.'

The whole city, Protestant and Catholic, mourned the
death of this fine old man, one of the most illustrious
victims of the scourge in Montreal.

148 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The orphan children were gathered to the homes and
hearts of the generous Canadians and the loving Irish ;
and most of them had grown up to manhood and woman-
hood before either monument or epitaph marked the spot
in which the bones of their dead parents were mingling
with the dust. But there is a monument and a record,
the pious work of English workmen, inspired by the
humane suggestion of English gentlemen. In the centre
of a railed-in spot of land at Point St. Charles, within a
hundred yards or so of the Victoria Bridge, that wondrous
structure which spans the broad St. Lawrence, there is a
huge boulder, taken from the bed of the river, and placed
on a platform of roughly hewn stone ; and on that boulder
there is this inscription : —

TO
Preserve from desecration

THE REMAINS OF SIX THOUSAND IMMIGRANTS,

Who died of Ship-fever,

A.D. 1847-8,
This stone is erected by the

WORKMEN OF MESSRS. PETO, BRASSY, AND BETTS,

Employed in the

Construction of the Victoria Bridge,
A.D. 1859.

In the church of the Bon Secour one may see a memorial
picture, repesrenting with all the painter's art the horrors
and the glories of the fever-shed — the dying Irish, strong
in their faith — the ministering Sisters shedding peace on
the pillow of suffering — the holy Bishop affording the last
consolations of religion to those to whom the world was
then as nothing : but, in its terrible significance, the rude
monument by that mighty river's side is far more im-
pressive.

Let us follow the Irish emigrant — ' the faithful Irish ' —
farther up the St. Lawrence.

In the grounds of the General Hospital of Kingston
there is an artificial mound, of gentle swell and moderate

THE GRAVE-MOUND IN KINGSTON. 149

elevation, the grass on which is ever green, as if owing to
some peculiar richness of the soil. When verdure has
been elsewhere burned up or parched, on this soft-swelling
mound greenness is perpetual. Beneath that verdant
shroud lie mouldering the bones of 1,900 Irish immigrants,
victims of the same awful scourge of their race — the ship
fever. With the intention of pushing on to the West, the
goal of their hopes, multitudes of the Irish reached Kings-
ton, 350 miles up the St. Lawrence from Quebec ; but the
plague broke out amongst this mass of human misery, and
they rotted away like sheep. So fast did they die, that
there were not means to provide coffins in which to inter
them. There was timber more than sufficient for the
purpose, but the hands to fashion the plank into the
coffin were too few, and Death was too rapid in his stroke ;
and so a huge pit of circular form was dug, and in it were
laid, in tiers, piled one upon the other, the bodies of 1,900
men, women, and children : and even to the hour when I
beheld the light of the setting sun imparting additional
beauty to its vivid greenness, there was neither rail, nor
fence, nor stone, nor cross, nor inscription, to tell that 1,900
of a Christian people slept beneath the turf of that gigan-
tic grave.

Twenty years ago Kingston was a small place, with little
more than half its present population ; and the Irish, who
now form an important portion of its community, were
then comparatively few in number. But in no part of
British America did the Irish display a more heroic devo-
tion to humanity and country than in that city, from which
the greater number of the inhabitants had fled in terror,
at the presence of the migratory hordes who brought
pestilence with them in their march. The Irish of the
town stood their ground bravely ; and not only were their
houses thrown open to their afflicted countrypeople, and
their means placed unreservedly at their disposal, but they
tended the sick and dying, and ministered to them in the

150 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

holiest spirit of charity. Among the best and bravest of
those who succoured the plague-smitten of that dreadful
time, were three Irish Protestants — Mr. Kirkpatrick, then
Mayor of Kingston, Alderman Robert Anglin, and Mr.
William Ford, afterwards Mayor — who were in the sheds
both day and night, and by their ceaseless efforts to relieve
the sufferers, inspired others with increased courage and
still greater self-devotion.

Father Bollard, an Irish clergyman, had to bear the
chief share of the priestly duty ; and from the first mo-
ment that the fever broke out, until the earth was beat-
en down on the top of the grave-mound, he was in the
midst of the danger. So shocking was the condition in
which the unhappy people reached Kingston, the last
resting-place of many of them, that the clergymen, three
at the most, had to change their own clothes repeatedly
in the day. One of the three priests, who had been only
just ordained, died of the contagion.

When the plague abated, and the danger no longer
existed, the inhabitants returned ; and now there began
an unseemly scramble for the orphan children of the
Catholic parents who slept beneath the mound in the
grounds of the Hospital. The Irish Catholics of the sur-
rounding locality strained every resource in order to afford
a home to the orphans of their native country and religion,
and through their charity the greater number of them
were well provided for ; but others of a different faith se-
cured a certain proportion of the children, who are now
perhaps bitter opponents of the creed of their fathers.

The same scenes of suffering and death were to be
witnessed in the city of Toronto, as in the other cities
of Canada during those memorable years, 1847 and 1848.
Sheds were constructed, and hearses and dead-carts were
in hourly requisition. The panic was universal ; but the
humane and high-spirited, of all denominations, did their
duty manfully. Two and three coffins were constantly to

AN ILLUSTRIOUS VICTIM IN TORONTO. 161

be seen on the hearse or waggon used for bearing the dead
to the grave-pit outside the town. One day the horse
drawing this hearse got restive, and, breaking from his
conductor, upset the three coffins, which, falling into pieces,
literally gave up their dead. This occurred near the
Market Square, about the most public thoroughfare in
Toronto, and at once a crowd assembled, horror-stricken
but fascinated by the awful spectacle. Every effort was
made to repair as speedily as possible the momentary dis-
aster ; but it was some time before the three wasted bodies
of the poor Irish could be hidden from sight. The priests,
as in all similar cases, were ceaselessly at work, with the
usual result — the sacrifice of several of their number.

Among the losses which the Catholic Church had to
deplore during this crisis, was that of a venerable Irish-
man, Dr. Power, Bishop of Toronto. He was implored by
his people not to expose a life so valuable to his flock ; but
he replied, that where the souls of Christians, and these the
natives of his own country, were in peril, it was his duty to
be there. c My good priests are down in sickness, and the
duty devolves on me. The poor souls are going to heaven,
and I will do all I can to assist them,' said the Bishop.
And in spite of the most earnest and affectionate re-
monstrance, he persevered in performing the same labours
as the youngest of his priests. The Bishop prepared for
his post of danger by making his will, and appointing an
administrator. The letters of administration were lengthy,
and of much importance, embracing necessarily the finan-
cial and other concerns of the diocese. This document,
most precious from its association with the voluntary
martyrdom of the venerable Prelate, is preserved among
the episcopal archives of Toronto. It was commenced
with a bold firm hand ; but as it proceeded amid frequent
interruptions — his visits to console the dying being their
chief cause — the writing became more and more feeble,
until one might mark, in the faint and trembling characters

152 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of the concluding lines, the near approach of death, which
soon consigned him to the tomb, another martyr to duty.
Karely, if ever, has a larger funeral procession been seen
in Toronto, and never has there been a more universal
manifestation of public sorrow than was witnessed on
that mournful occasion. Every place of business in the
streets through which the procession passed was closed,
and Protestant vied with Catholic in doing honour to the
memory of a holy and brave-hearted prelate.

Partridge Island, opposite the city of St. John, New
Brunswick, was the scene of more horrors, more destruc-
tion of human life. In fact, wherever an emigrant ship
touched the shores of the British Provinces, or sailed into
their rivers, there is the same awful carnage to be re-
corded.

A portion of the survivors pushed on to the West, their
march still tracked by fever, and marked by new-made
graves. The majority stopped at various places on the
way, or spread over Central and Western Canada, many
settling on Crown lands placed at their disposal by the
Government, but others hiring themselves as farm la-
bourers, not having, as yet, the energy to face the forest,
and engage in a struggle for which disease and sorrow had
rendered them for a time unequal. But in half a dozen
years after might be seen, along the shores of the lakes,
and on the banks of the great rivers and their tributaries,
prosperous settlements of those fever-hunted exiles, who,
flying in terror from their own country, carried plague
and desolation with them to the country of their adoption.
It was remarked of them that, though they bravely rallied,
and set about their work as settlers with an energy almost
desperate, many seemed to be prematurely old, and broke
down after some years of ceaseless toil; but not before
they had achieved the great object of their ambition —
made a home and realised a property for those who, with

HOW THE IRISH PUSHED OX. 163

them, survived the horrors of the passage, and the havoc of
the quarantine and the fever-shed.

Even to this day the terror inspired in the minds of the
inhabitants through whose districts the Irish emigrants
passed in the terrible years of 1847 and 1848, has not died
out. I was told of one instance where, little more than a
year since, whole villages were scared at the announcement,
happily untrue, that ' the poor Irish were coming, and were
bringing the fever with them.' It was scarcely a subject for
the pleasantry of the wag.

As explorers and pioneers, the Irish have been as ad-
venturous and successful as any others in Canada. As
lumbermen, they have pushed far in advance of the foot-
steps of civilisation. Twenty-five years since they were to
be found in the forests along the banks of the Moira,
which empties itself into the Bay of Quinte, cutting down
the great trees, ' making timber,' then guiding it down
the rapids, and bringing it to Quebec. And among the
most fearless and daring, as well as skilful, of the navi-
gators of the tremendous rapids of the St. Lawrence are
the Irish. The Canadian, though dexterous with the axe,
is occasionally rather apt to depend on his prayers in a mo-
ment of emergency; whereas the Irishman, who, to say
the least, is fully as pious as the Canadian, acts on the
wise belief that Providence helps those who help them-
selves. At the head of the Ottawa, which is the great
lumbering centre of Canada, the Irish have principally
settled the town of Pembroke, in which reside many who,
once enterprising lumbermen and bold raftsmen, are now
living at their ease, in the enjoyment of their hard-earned
wealth. There is one in particular, who went miles up
the river beyond Pembroke, and brought his family into
the almost impenetrable forest. Twenty years ago he was
a raftsman, earning 16 dollars a month, and he is now
one of the richest men on the river. Within twelve miles
of Pembroke, at Fort William, a station belonging to the

154 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Hudson Bay Company, the keenest competitors with the
Company in the purchase of furs are Irishmen. Following
up the Ottawa, to French Kiver, which empties itself into
Lake Huron, along that river, and the small tributaries
of the Ottawa, are to be found thriving Irish settlements
of not more than six years date. In fact, the Irish have
penetrated everywhere, and have proved themselves bold
and self-reliant, and, even perhaps in a greater degree
than the other nationalities, have displayed the most won-
derful faculty of adapting themselves to every possible
circumstance. This faculty, whether of adapting them-
selves to natural circumstances or to political institutions,
specially distinguishes the Irish race.

Throughout the cities and towns of Upper Canada the
Irish hold an eminent position in every profession, and in
every department and branch of industry ; and in the
professions, as in mercantile life, the Catholics already en-
joy a fair share, especially when their former poverty and
religious faith are taken into account. Indeed, considering
the circumstances under which so many of the Catholic
Irish of the towns emigrated to Canada, not only with
little means, and few friends to help them, but with all
manner of prejudice arrayed against them, they have done
more and succeeded better than those of any other creed
or nationality. They have done more in a shorter time,
and in the face of an opposition which neither the English
nor Scotch, nor their Protestant brethren knew anything of.
There is not a town in Canada in which there are not to
be witnessed instances, equally striking and honourable, of
the progress of young Irishmen, who, bringing out with
them a few pounds at most, but more probably a few
shillings, are now extensive traders, enterprising manufac-
turers, and large employers. It is not necessary to par-

IN THE CITIES OF UPPER CANADA. 155

ticularise by individual cases ; but were it right to mention
places and persons, I could give a long list of the most
gratifying instances of the results of unaided industry
and unbefriended energy. I was much struck, when walk-
ing with a friend through a" city in Western Canada, at
observing the fine ranges of buildings for commercial
purposes recently erected, or being then put up, by
Catholic Irishmen, with whose history I was made ac-
quainted. To industry, integrity, and sheer mother wit,
they — not a few of them poor but intelligent lads, who came
out to seek their fortunes — owed everything ; to human
favour or patronage they were not indebted to the value
of a shilling. One of these Irishmen had studded the
country with young traders, whom he established in va-
rious directions, and nearly all of whom were prospering.
Another was then on his way to Europe to purchase his
goods direct from the manufacturers, instead of buying
them through Canadian houses ; and his calculation was,
that he would save from 1,500/. to 2,000/. a year by adopt-
ing this plan. When he landed in Canada he was not
master of twenty dollars in the world. This is what I saw
in a single city, and that by no means the most extensive
in either business or population.

There are new generations of Irishmen rising up every
day in Canada, the sons of men of humble origin or modest
beginning, who, having pushed their way successfully
in their new home, sent their boys to college, and ' made
gentlemen of them.' As lawyers, doctors, engineers,
architects, these young men are bringing to the va-
rious professions the sturdy energy of the class from
which they sprang, and are vindicating by their ability
and their genius the intellectual prestige of their race.
The well-authenticated stories told of the fathers of young
men whom I saw dressed with all the elegance indicative
of wealth and good position, and whose manners corres-
ponded with their external appearance, sounded like a

156 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

romance, they were so marvellous. How these Irish fath-
ers crossed the Atlantic in a timber ship, and landed per-
haps at Quebec or St. John, with scarcely enough to sup-
port them for a week ; how they resolutely turned to
the first work that offered, 'caring little for hardship or
drudgery ; how they never looked back, but ever onwards ;
how at length money seemed to grow under their touch,
until they accumulated property, built mansions, pos-
sessed horses and carriages, lived in splendour, and care-
fully fitted their children, by education and training, for
the position they were to occupy, as the gentry of the
country ! But in their histories we learn, that these self-
made Irishmen, these successful founders of prosperous
families, the creators of all this prosperity and splendour,
never clouded their bright Celtic intellect, or brutalised
their genial and kindly nature, with drink. Not that they
totally abstained from the use of stimulants, perhaps few of
them did ; but they were ' sober, well-conducted men.'

' As a rule,' said a well-informed friend, ' till within the
last ten or twelve years, few Irish Catholics of respectable
position, or with even moderate means, immigrated to
Canada. Under these circumstances it tells favourably for
the country, for the government and the laws of Canada,
and for the enterprise, industry, and perseverance of our
people, that so many are independent, and that the vast
majority enjoy all the comforts and many of the luxuries
of life.

The educational system of Upper Canada is in every way
calculated to develop the intelligence and stimulate the
energies of the rising youth of the country. The teaching
is practical and comprehensive, and the administration
appears to be, so far as I could ascertain, just and impar-
tial. The superior colleges of Canada turn out as highly
cultivated young men as are to be found in any part of
America, or in the oldest universities of Europe. And in
every educational institution — from the university of Toronto,

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM. 157

in which, under the presidency of a distinguished Irishman,
I witnessed Irish students bearing off several of the highest
prizes of the year, to the humblest village school through-
out British America and the United States — the brightness
of the Irish intellect is remarkable ; indeed, it is a subject
of universal observation in all parts of America.

The facilities which the public school laws of Upper
Canada offer to the Catholics for obtaining elementary edu-
cation strictly denominational, may be thus briefly stated : —

Two or more Catholic heads of families, by giving notice
(with a view to exemption from the public rate) to certain
local officers, may claim the right to establish a school of
their own, and elect their own trustees for its management.
The supporters of this school are not only exempt from the
payment of all rates for the support of the public schools,
but the law guarantees to them the right to share, half-
yearly, in the legislative grant, in proportion to the number
of children they may educate. They also receive an equal
amount to whatever sum they send to the Government
department of Education, for the purchase of maps,
globes, school-prizes, and library books. These library
books are selected by a Council, of which the Catholic
Bishop of Toronto is a member. Many of the books are
exclusively Catholic in their character, and the trustees
have the right to select only such books as they may
prefer. The schools are, of course, subject to official in-
spection, and are required to report to the department;
which is only right and fair, considering they receive
assistance from the State, through officials responsible for
the proper administration of the public money. Every
Catholic school may claim an area of country for its sup-
porters of six miles in diameter, or eighteen miles in
circumference — that is, three miles in all directions from
its school-house, as a central point. All supporters of the
school within that area are exempt from public school
taxation. Here is the practical admission of a just prin-

168 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ciple — respect for conscientious convictions in a mattei
most vitally affecting the interests of mankind.

There is a shadow, a dark shadow, in this bright picture
of prosperity and progress — the spirit of bigotry — the
spirit of unnatural hate. It is expressed in one pregnant
word — Orangeism. Pity indeed that it should exist in that
land of free institutions and good laws. Pity that it should
mar its peace, or retard its progress. Pity that, from any
reason, motive, or object, it should be encouraged by any
class. Pity that it is not trampled inexorably under foot,
not by harsh enactment, but by the good sense and right
feeling of the wise and the patriotic, acting on the public
mind of the Protestant portion of the community. Its
influence is felt in every department of public and private
life, if not in ah1, at least in too many districts of Upper
Canada. Its baneful presence is perceptible in the heart of
the country as in the city and the town. I know that many
good and enlightened Protestant Irishmen — men who are
staunch to their faith, for which they would face any dan-
ger or endure any sacrifice — deplore the existence of this
one of the deadly curses of our Irish people, and do all they
possibly can to neutralise its vemom, and counteract its
evil influence. I believe it to be a barrier to the progress
— the more rapid progress — of Canada ; it not only checks
emigration, but it also induces migration ; it prevents
many from coming, and — often unconsciously — it impels
many to leave. What Canada requires, in order to realise
the hopes of her statesmen and her patriots, is more men
and women, more millions — not of the kid-glove school,
but of the strong, the vigorous, and the resolute — of the
same class as those who have reclaimed her wastes, built
up her cities, and constructed her highways — those sons
and daughters of toil, without whose fructifying labour
there can be no progress, no civilisation. Undoubtedly
great and prosperous as is this sturdiest of the offspring of

THE POISON OF ORANGEISM. 159

the mother country, she requires some additional millions
of human beings ere she expands in reality to the full
measure of her new-coined designation — the Dominion of
Canada. And it is neither wise nor patriotic, in any class
or section of the population, from any motive or object
whatever, to foster or encourage, in the very heart of the
body politic, a source of evil which bears sufficiently bitter
fruit at the other side of the Atlantic and at both sides of
the Boyne — but which, by the waters of the St. Lawrence
and the Ottawa, should be doomed to wither beneath pub-
he contempt. Though the hearts of Irishmen in the New
World instinctively turn to each other, this pestilent
Orange virus keeps them apart. There is their old country,
which they love in common, with which their fondest and
dearest memories are associated ; but this evil thing is so
vicious, so full of rancour, that it poisons the very foun-
tains of patriotic emotions, and stimulates to hatred rather
than to love. Under ordinary circumstances, when there is
nothing to give life to this Orange feeling, the Irish live in
harmony together. They are friends and neighbours, and
would willingly assist each other in adversity or distress.
The families visit and blend together; the young people
grow up in companionship, most likely in friendship ; the
old people gad and gossip together ; births and marriages
and deaths are matters of common interest — nay, not a
sorrow or pain is felt in one home but excites compassion
and sympathy in the other. But, lo ! as the period of the
Orange festival approaches — as one of those anniversaries
of past strife, of battles fought nearly two hundred years
ago in Ireland, comes round — then a cloud seems to grow
and gather on the brow, and a strange transformation tajkes
place : the open-hearted, kindly neighbour of yesterday is
not to be recognised in that downcast, sullen fellow, who
meets the Catholic with a scowl, if not a curse ; and in his
wife, or daughter, or sister, who hurries past the house of
the Catholic as if there were contagion in its door-posts,

160 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

one finds it hard to trace a likeness to the genial matron
who so agreeably discussed the nameless trifles that consti-
tute the theme of friendly gossip, or the pleasant damsel
whose laughter made music in the family circle. "When
the day of celebration does come, the Catholic had better
avoid his Orange neighbour — for quarrels, blows, bloodshed,
may possibly come of their meeting ; and if so, alas ! deeper
hate and greater scandal — sadder shame to those who bear
anWErish name. Possibly the crisis passes without collision
or disturbance. Happy for all if it be so ; and in a few
days after, not however without some preliminary shame-
facedness, the former relations are re-established, and all
goes on as before — until the accursed anniversary again
darkens the brow and fills the heart with hate. Terrible, if
not before man, certainly in the eyes of God, is the re-
sponsibility of those who keep alive the memories of strife
and contention which should be left to slumber in the grave
of the past.

Canada has a splendid future before her, whatever may
be her form of government, or whatever the relations
which, in the course- of time, she may bear to the mother
country, or to her neighbour the United States. She
abounds in natural resources. Millions and millions of
acres of good land are yet unoccupied, more are still unex-
plored ; and such is her mineral wealth, that a vast popula-
tion should be employed in its development. Thus, with land
almost unlimited in extent, mines of unquestionable pro-
ductiveness, and capabilities within herself for almost every
description of manufacturing industry, what does Canada
require in order to be really great, but population — more
millions of men and women? But she must rid herself
of this Orange pestilence ; for though she pays her workers
liberally, and in hard silver, which knows no depreciation ;
and though they live well, taxation being small and prices
of all necessaries being moderate, still their tendency is
towards the other side of the Lakes and the St. Lawrence.

THE ONLY DRAWBACK. 161

I have met and spoken with too many of my Catholic
countrymen in Canada not to know that this Orange feel-
ing is a cause of more than dissatisfaction — even of lurking
discontent : it is the one thing which, reviving the recol-
lections of old persecution, makes the Catholic Irishman
think less fondly of the home of his adoption ; it is like-
wise, I believe, one of the causes which for many years past
has diverted emigration into another and a broader chan-
nel. For Catholics, I can say their dearest wish is to live
in amity with their Protestant neighbours. They admit and
feel that the laws are just and good, that the Government
is wise and paternal, that the institutions are favourable to
the fullest liberty ; therefore the more do they deplore the
existence of an organisation which keeps alive an evil feel-
ing that is neither suited to a Christian people nor favour-
able to the fuller development of a youthful State. I write
this in the warmest interest in a country to which so many
of my own people have directed their wandering footsteps,
and where so many of them have won an honourable inde-
pendence by the exercise of the noblest qualities.

162 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEE IX.

Newfoundland — Monstrous Policy — Bad Times for the Irish
Papists— How the Bishop saved the Colony — The Cathedral of
St. John's— Evil of having but one Pursuit — Useful Efforts— The
Plague of Dogs — Proposal to exterminate the ' Noble Newfound-
land '—Wise Legislation— Reckless Improvidence— Kindly Rela-
tions— Irish Girls.

THEEE is not within the circle of the British Empire a
more interesting colony than Newfoundland, or whose
inhabitants have had to struggle against a more stupid
and perverse policy than that deliberately adopted towards
it by the Home Government, and faithfully enforced by its
willing representatives. The policy of this day is to stud
the earth with vigorous offshoots from the parent stock,
and foster them into sturdy growth by the gift of free in-
stitutions ; and the natural result of a policy so wise and
enlightened is this — that there being no wrongs to avenge,
no bitter memories to cherish, no galling restrictions to
chafe or irritate the public mind, the colony cheerfully
bears the light yoke of loyalty to the mother country,
whose manufactures it consumes, whose commerce it ex-
tends, whose resources it developes, and whose people it
enriches and employs. But the policy pursued towards
Newfoundland was the very opposite to everything wise and
enlightened. To say that it was discouraging would not
express its character in adequate terms : it was rather re-
pressive, if not actually crushing. The absurd idea of the
wiseacres of that day was to niake of Newfoundland a
mere fishing-station, and of St. John's a landing place. By
the treaty of Utrecht the British obtained the island from

NEWFOUNDLAND— MONSTROUS POLICY. 163

the French in 1713. When the island thus came into
possession of its new masters, it contained a not inconsi-
derable French population, to whom freedom of worship
had been guaranteed by treaty ' as far as the laws of England
permitted ; ' and so successfully did the Governor of the
day take advantage of this dangerous proviso, that the dis-
gusted French Catholics and their clergy sold their property
and ' abandoned ' the questionable protection of the con-
querors. The French Catholics having been effectually
god rid of, their Irish brethren became the objects of spe-
cial proscription. The following order was issued by
several Governors down to so late as 1765. It shows the
spirit against which the Irish Catholic had to contend :

For the better preserving the peace, preventing robberies, tumultuous
assemblies, and other disorders of wicked and idle people remaining in
the country during the winter, Ordered —

That no Papist servant, man or woman, shall remain at any place
where they did not fish or serve during the summer.

That not more than two Papist men shall dwell in one house during
the winter, except such as have Protestant masters.

That no Papist shall keep a public-house, or sell liquor by retail.

That the masters of Irish servants do pay for their passage home.

Another order, addressed to the magistrates about this
time, exhibits the fierce spirit of persecution in a manner
still more striking.

Whereas you have represented to me that an Irish Papist, a servant, a
man without wife or family, has put up mark posts in a fishing-room
within your district, with an intent to build a stake and flakes thereon,
and possess the same as his right and property, which practice being
entirely repugnant to the Act 10 and 11 Wm. III.

I do therefore authorise you to immediately cause the post marks
abovementioned to be taken down, and warn the person so offending
not to presume to mark out any vacant fishing-room again as his pro-
perty, as he will answer the contrary at his peril. You are also to warn
other Papists from offending in the like case, as they will answer to
the contrary.

(Signed) T. BYRON, Governor.

164 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

But Pat was irrepressible. He would come and remain,
and prosper too, notwithstanding that he was fulminated
against in order and proclamation, and though the fecun-
dity of his race was officially deplored as a great and em-
barrassing evil. The fact was, the Irish were hard-working
and useful, and those who appreciated their value encou-
raged their coming and remaining, despite of Governor,
and Fishing Admiral, and Home Government. "Wisdom
slowly dawned on the benighted authorities, who were com-
pelled to tolerate what they could not prevent. But such
was the state of things in the colony for a long series of
years, and actually within the memory of living men, that
a house could not be put up, or even thoroughly repaired,
without the sanction of the Governor ! The wonder should
not be why Newfoundland has not made more rapid strides
than it has, but that it has progressed so rapidly as it has
done. ' Let no one blame Newfoundland, then,' says Dr.
Mullock,* * for not having hitherto advanced as rapidly as
other colonies. I boldly assert that there was never more
energy shown by any people than by the inhabitants of
this island. The Government that should foster them con-
sidered them intruders, and banished them when it could.'
The gifted Prelate thus completes the picture :

They had not the liberty of the birds of the air to build or repair
their nests — they had behind them the forest or the rocky soil, which
they were not allowed, without license difficultly obtained, to reclaim
and till. Their only resource was the stormy ocean, and they saw
the wealth they won from the deep spent in other lands, leaving them
only a scanty subsistence. Despite of all this they have increased
twenty-fold in ninety years, have built towns and villages, erected
magnificent buildings, as the cathedral in St. John's, introduced tele-
graphs, steam, postal, and road communications, newspapers, every-
thing, in fact, found in the most civilised countries, and all this on a
rugged soil, in a harsh though wholesome climate, and under every
species of discouragement.

* Two Lectures on Newfoundland, delivered at St Bonaventure's Col-
lege, January 25 and February 1, 1860, by the Right Rev. Dr. Mullock.

BAD TIMES FOR THE IRISH PAPISTS. 165

We have seen that the ' Irish Papist ' could not be dis-
couraged out of the country, in which he was not without
the ministration of the priest, who though he had no fixed
abode in the Island, usually came out in a fishing-boat, and
so diguised as to escape the vigilance of the hostile author-
ities. Protestants suffered from no such disadvantage.
Their's was the recognised religion of the State, and its
ministers were stationed in the principal settlements. This
indeed was the state of things throughout the continent of
America, wherever, in fact, the British power was recog-
nised. Catholics were under a ban, hunted, persecuted, or
grievously discouraged, while Protestants enjoyed in its
fulness the advantages of a protected church and a domi-
nant religion. This should be always taken into considera-
tion when estimating the progress of those who were guilty,
in the eyes of their jealous rulers, of the double offence of
being Catholic and Irish.

In the year of grace 1784 liberty of conscience was pro-
claimed in Newfoundland, and the Catholics at once took
advantage of the boon. In that year the Rev. James
O'Donnell, ' the founder and father of the church of New-
foundland,' landed in the island. A native of Tipperary, he
had spent a large portion of his life in the Irish Franciscan
Convent of Prague, in Bohemia, and afterwards presided
over the convent of his order in "Waterford, and subse-
quently as the provincial of the order in Ireland. He was
the first regularly authorised missioner in Newfoundland
since it had been ceded to the British in 1713 ; and to his
wisdom, firmness and sagacity are due the practical settle-
ment of the Irish in that colony. The following document
is rather a strange commentary on the proclamation of
liberty of conscience and freedom of worship of six years
before. It was written by Governor Milbank, in answer to
an application by Dr. O'Donnell for leave to build a chapel
in one of the out-ports : —

166 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The Governor acquaints Mr. O'Donnell that, so far from being dis-
posed to allow of an increase of places of religious worship for the
Roman Catholics of the island, lie very seriously intends, next year, to lay
those established already, under particular restrictions. Mr. O'Donnell
must be aware that it is not the interest of Great Britain to encourage
people to winter in Newfoundland, and he cannot be ignorant that many
of the lower order who would now stay, would, if it were not for the con-
venience with which they obtain absolution here, go home for it at least once
in two or three years ; and the Governor has been misinformed if Mr.
O'Donnell, instead of advising their return to Ireland, does not rather
encourage them to winter in this country.

On board the Salisbury, St. John's. Nov. 2, 1790.

What a proclamation of intolerance and stupidity ! We
doubt if, considering the period at which the world had
arrived, there was ever penned a more discreditable epistle.
We shall now see how this cruel mistrust was repaid by the
distinguished minister of religion who was its object.

It was in the year 1799, shortly after the memorable
Irish Rebellion, that the circumstance occurred which
exhibited in the most conspicuous manner the value of the
influence and authority of a zealous and courageous pastor,
and the wisdom of encouraging, rather than discountenanc-
ing, the presence of a Catholic clergyman in the midst of
an Irish population. Many who had been compelled to
fly from their native land in consequence of the rising of
1798, found refuge in Newfoundland, bringing with them
the exasperated feelings engendered by that disastrous
conflict ; nor was the state of things in the colony such as
to soothe the bitter hatred which they cherished in their
hearts. Amongst them a conspiracy was formed, its object
being the destruction of the Protestant colonists ; and such
was the success with which the conspirators pushed their
machinations, and they secured the sympathy and pro-
mised co-operation of a large portion of the regiment
then stationed in St. John's. Their plans were laid with
great secrecy and skill, and the day was appointed for
carrying their fatal designs into execution. The time

HOW THE BISHOP SAVED THE COLONY. 167

chosen was when the people had assembled at church, and
it not being then the custom for the military to carry
arms into the sacred building, it was considered by the
conspirators that those who would thus go unarmed could
not offer much difficulty in the execution of the fearful
plot. Had the intended rising taken place, the conse-
quences would have been awful ; but happily, through
the vigilance and prudence of Bishop O'Donnell — he had
been appointed Vicar Apostolic in 1794 — the conspiracy
was defeated. Having been apprised of what was con-
templated, he at once informed the G-eneral in command
of the danger impending, urging him to deal with the
soldiers, and undertaking himself to deal with the mis-
guided civilians who had been involved in the guilty pro-
ject. The necessary steps were taken, the contemplated
rising was effectually prevented, and Newfoundland was
saved from a scene of horror and bloodshed that would have
formed a dark blot on the page of its history. The Protes-
tants regarding Bishop O'Donnell as their preserver, under
Providence, naturally felt towards that prelate an intense
feeling of gratitude ; and the British Government, whose
representative but nine years before wrote him the miser-
able letter just quoted, recognised his great services by a
pension — a very small one it is true — which was continued
to his successors for some time. ' How often,' remarks the
friend to whom I am indebted for the recollection of this
important incident in the life of the good Bishop, 'have
the clergy of the Catholic Church, as in this instance,
heaped coals of fire on the heads of their opponents, and
rebuked the blind intolerance of the persecutors of their
faith!'

The days of systematic discouragement had passed for
ever. 'The English Government/ says Dr. Mullock,
'tacitly recognised the population of Newfoundland as
having a right to live in the land they had chosen.' But
there was hard work in store for the zealous missionary ;

168 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and, indeed, it required all the efforts of the ministers of
religion, Protestant and Catholic, to extirpate the poison
of infidelity which the works of PAINE, then extensively
circulated and read, had spread through the colony. The
mission was a laborious and a rude one at best ; and in
the seventieth year of his age Dr. O'Donnell resigned his
charge to Dr. Lambert, and sought repose in his native
land, where he died four years afterwards, and was buried
in the parish chapel of Clonmel. Drs. Scallan and Flem-
ming succeeded Dr. Lambert, and preceded the present
Bishop, Dr. Mullock, a man of great energy of character,
highly cultivated mind, intense zeal for the promotion of
religion and education, and ardently devoted to the mate-
rial progress of his people. There is now a second bishop
in the island, Dr. Dalton, whose cathedral is at Harbour
Grace.

The population being chiefly engaged in the fisheries,
are necessarily scattered along the sea coast. The labours
of the missionaries are consequently very arduous, they
being often compelled to travel by water in small boats at
the most inclement seasons ; while in many parts of the
island, owing to the imperfect nature of the roads, land
travel imposes on priestly zeal penalties 110 less severe.
Still, so great and increasing are the efforts made by the
clergy, that there are few of their flock beyond the reach
of their ministrations. The devotedness of the pastors
is thoroughly responded to by the fidelity of their flocks.
It is no exaggeration to say that in no part of the world
is there a more complete union of clergy and people than
exists between the Catholic people and clergy 'of New-
foundland. If we consider the vast undertakings which
have been brought to a successful termination by a Catho-
lic population not much exceeding 60,000 souls in all, we
cannot but be surprised at the wonderful liberality and zeal
of the people, and at the influence exercised over them by
the Bishop and his clergy. The value of the church pro-

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN'S. 1G9

perty, including churches, parochial residences, convents,
&c., is little short of 200,000/. In St. John's alone the
value of their property is estimated at over 150,000/. In
this is included the cost of the cathedral, one of the
noblest structures to be found at the other side of the
Atlantic. To raise this magnificent temple, the generous
colonists subscribed the enormous sum of 120,OOOZ. Were
Governor Milbank now in the flesh, and were he to stand
on the floor of that great cathedral, glance up to its lofty
roof, cast his eyes round at the beautiful works of art
brought .from the most famous studios of Rome, and then
remember his famous letter to Dr. O'Donnell — so coolly
insolent and so haughtily contemptuous — he might well
feel ashamed of himself, and the Government whose
miserable policy he represented ; and also learn how im-
possible it is to destroy a living faith, or crush a genuine
race. It was only fifty years after that letter was written
that the idea of erecting this stupendous cathedral was
conceived by the Bishop of that day, the Eight Eev. Dr.
Flemming. Few save the Bishop himself dared to hope
that any one then living would ever worship within its
walls ; but, strange to say, from the commencement of the
work its progress was never interrupted from want of
funds, and in the comparatively short space of ten years it
was so far advanced as to admit of the Holy Sacrifice being
offered up under its roof. Dr. Flemming lived long enough
to see all doubts removed — not from his mind, for he never
entertained one on the subject — as to the ultimate accom-
plishment of his object ; and in leaving the completion of
the great work to his successor, he knew that in the piety
and indomitable zeal of Dr. Mullock there was the best
guarantee for its speedy and splendid completion. Dr.
Mullock received it a mere shell — a magnificent exterior,
it is true, but nothing more ; everything within remained
to be done. Taking hold of the work, as it were, with a
strong hand and a determined will, Bishop Mullock went

170 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

forward with such vigour, that in the year 1855 its com-
pletion was inaugurated by a solemn consecration, at which
several of the most eminent prelates of the American
church were present. The Bishop not only completed this
grand edifice, but, in the true Catholic spirit, he enriched
it with the choicest works of art, rightly thinking that
the efforts of human genius cannot be more fittingly em-
ployed than in doing honour to the Creator of man — the
Author of his power, and strength, and genius ; and that
by the aid of the productions of the painter and the sculp-
tor the mind may be lifted, or assisted to rise, above the
worldly cares and vulgar thoughts which are too often
brought to the very porch of the temple.

Within the area of the ample space on which the cathe-
dral stands, are erected the Presentation Convent and the
schools attached, the Orphanage, the Convent of Mercy,
the College of St. Bonaventure, and the Episcopal Palace
— all worthy of being associated with the noble structure
which is the centre of the whole. These institutions, now
entirely free from debt, have been erected during the
spiritual rule of Dr. Mullock, who thus completed the
great design of which the cathedral was only the practical
commencement.

At Biver Head another imposing church, only second in
grandeur to the cathedral of St. John's, is now in progress
of erection ; and at Harbour Grace, Dr. Dalton is engaged
in the serious undertaking of enlarging his cathedral, which
has long since been too small for his increasing congrega-
tion. In his diocese, and with smaller resources, and a
more limited field of action, this zealous prelate is rivalling
the successful energy of his distinguished brother of St.
John's. Besides the two convents in the capital, there are
twelve branch houses in other parts of the island, and these
are in a great degree devoted to the training of the female
children of the Catholic population. The Catholics of St.
John's have no educational grievance to complain of. The

EVIL OF HAVING BUT ONE PURSUIT. 171

principle on which the system is based is that of allowing
to each religious denomination the education of its own
youth — an arrangement which marvellously simplifies mat-
ters, and removes every possible excuse for mischievous
meddling, or collision of any kind. More than one hundred
students are receiving a first-class collegiate education in
the College of St. Bonaventure, such as to prepare them to
maintain an honourable position in the various walks of
life for which they may be destined ; and in the same
institution the candidates for holy orders are prepared for
the priesthood, the design of the bishop being to recruit
the ranks of the clergy from amongst the natives of the
colony, Ireland having hitherto supplied all the priests for
the mission.

The zeal and fidelity of the Irish Catholics of Newfound-
land may be estimated by the great things they have done
for their church, notwithstanding limited resources and
original discouragement. Whenever a great work is to be
done, every one assists according to his means ; and where
money cannot be subscribed, the full equivalent is freely
given in work and labour. So thoroughly identified are
the people with the cause to be promoted, that in a whole
parish a single defaulter is rarely to be met with ! But if
the bishop calls on his flock to assist him in one of those
useful undertakings in which he is so constantly engaged,
he himself is the first to afford a signal example of libe-
rality, having contributed the munificent sum of 10,OOOZ.
out of his own resources towards the works of his pro-
motion.

Perhaps the great evil of the colony is the almost
exclusive devotion of its inhabitants to the one engrossing
pursuit. So long as the fisheries are prosperous the evil
is not so manifest ; but should this grand resource of the
island prove less productive than usual, intense distress is
the immediate consequence, there being little else to fall
back upon. What agriculture is to Ireland, the fisheries

172 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

are to Newfoundland ; and while Ireland requires the
extension of manufacturing industry on a large scale, not
only as a means of constant employment, but as a resource
in case of failure of crops, Newfoundland has equal need
of the cultivation of its soil as a certain source of pros-
perity, as well as a means of compensating for the casual
falling off in the staple industry of the colony. The
number exclusively engaged in agriculture is small, and is
principally confined to residents in the neighbourhood of
St. John's ; not that the land in that vicinity is better than
elsewhere, but that a valuable market is at hand for the
consumption of every kind of animal and vegetable pro-
duce. It is found that a judicious combination of fishing
with the cultivation of the soil best rewards the labourer ;
and efforts are now being made to induce the people to give
more attention to the latter pursuit. A whole family can
seldom find full employment in connection with the fishery,
and one of the advantages of the other mode of occupation
is that it provides employment for labour that would other-
wise be waste. The importance of cultivating the soil was
never fully estimated until in 1847 the mysterious potato
disease appeared in Newfoundland, as it did in so many
regions of the earth. The distress caused by this event
showed how valuable had been that fruitful crop, for which
the nature of the soil seems peculiarly adapted. So viru-
lent was the disease in the year mentioned, that it appears
to have left its sting ever since ; for blight, or partial failure,
has been of frequent occurrence .since then, and even as late
as the season of 1866 it assumed a marked character. Good
oats and barley are raised in the island, but they are not
cultivated to the extent they might be. In fact, farming
in Newfoundland is still in a primitive state, few per-
sons being regularly devoted to it as a profession, it being
regarded rather as a useful auxiliary to the great staple
industry of the inhabitants, than as a valuable source of
general wealth. The Government fully appreciate the

USEFUL EFFORTS— THE PLAGUE OF DOGS. 173

importance of encouraging the people to adopt the culti-
vation of the land as a fixed and settled pursuit. In
former times it was difficult to obiain a licence from the
Governor of the day to till any portion of the soil : but in
1866 an Act was passed offering to the poor cultivator a
bonus of eight dollars for every acre up to six acres cleared
and fitted for crops, besides a free grant of the land itself.
As thousands of acres, suited for cultivation, may be had
in various parts of the island, it is to be hoped that the
liberal policy of the Colonial Government may be crowned
with success. Fisheries, however bountiful, or even in-
exhaustible, are, from natural causes altogether beyond
the control of man, necessarily more or less precarious ;
and it is wise statesmanship as well as true patriotism to
try and lay the foundation of a great branch of industry
which, while adding to the wealth of the community, may
form the best resource against unexpected calamity.

Efforts are also made to encourage the breeding of
sheep, for which the climate and soil seem eminently
suited. The attention of the Agricultural Society is being
devoted to the subject, and with some success. But Bishop
Mullock insists that unless relentless war be waged against
the dogs of the colony, sheep-farming will be a matter of
impossibility. To destroy, at one fell swoop, the noble
breed of dogs which have done much to make Newfound-
land known to the world — to annihilate the splendid brute
so remarkable for courage, sagacity, and fidelity — may
appear to be a proposal worthy of a Draco, and might well
stimulate the indignant genius of the poets of the universe ;
but the Bishop makes out a strong case, which he may be
allowed to put in his own words : —

We have, says Dr. Mullock, the means of raising on our wild pastures
millions of that most useful animal to man — the sheep. On the
southern and western shore, indeed everywhere in the island, I have
seen the finest sheep walks ; and what is better, the droppings of the
sheep in this country induce a most luxuriant crop of white clover,

174 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and prevent the spread of bog plants. If sheep were encouraged, we
should have fresh meat in abundance, and their fleece would furnish
warm clothing in the winter for our people, of a better quality than
the stuff they now buy, 'half waddy and devil's dust,- and which
impoverishes them to procure it. Domestic manufactures would be
encouraged, the people would become industrious and comfortable,
and every housewife in our out-harbours would realise, in some sort,
that sublime description of a valiant woman by Solomon, Prov. xxxi.,
' she hath put out her hands to strong things, and her fingers have
taken hold of the spindle ; she has sought wool and flax and hath
wrought by the counsel of her hands ; she shall not fear for her house
in the cold of snow, for all her domestics are clothed with double
garments ; she hath looked well to the paths of her house and hath
not eaten her bread idle ; her children rose up and called her blessed ;
her husband had praised her.' But, unfortunately, this great blessing
of sheep pasture is marred by one curse, and idleness and poverty are
too often the accompaniments of the poor man's fireside in the long
winter — as long as a vicious herd of dogs are allowed to be kept in the
country, so long will poverty be the winter portion of the poor. In no
other part of the world would such an iniquity be permitted. There is a
law offering 5/. for the destruction of a wolf, and I never have heard
of 51. worth of mutton being destroyed by wolves since the days of
Cabot; but why do not our legislators, if they have the interest of
the people at heart (and according to their election speeches, every
member is actuated by the most philanthropic and patriotic motives),
pass and enforce a law against dogs, which devour every sheep they
can find, and have almost exterminated the breed altogether ; for no
one will keep sheep while his neighbour is allowed to keep wolves.

Nor are the Bishop's reasons for thus preaching a war of
extermination exhausted in the passage quoted; he con-
demns the use of dogs in drawing firewood, the dogs being
assisted in their labour by stalwart men yoked to the same
car. The Bishop wisely remarks that one horse would do
the work of one hundred dogs, and be always useful ; and
the man who could not keep a horse, might hire his
neighbour's for a few days, at an expense far less than what
he wastes in boots and clothes. The Bishop apprehends
that his remarks may prove unpalatable ; but he has the
interests of the people too much at heart to conceal
his sentiments on a subject of such vital importance to

WISE LEGISLATION. 175

them, and he asserts that 'religion, education, civilization,
are all suffering from this curse of dogs, worse than all the
plagues of Egypt to this unfortunate country/ The lec-
tures from which these strong passages are quoted were
delivered in 1860 ; but I am not aware how far he was
successful in turning the public sentiment in favour of
sheep and against their implacable enemy, 'the noble
Newfoundland.' The reader will perceive that this Irish
Bishop is as vigorous as a reformer of abuse and promoter
of material improvement, as he is energetic as a founder of
religious and educational institutions, and builder of cathe-
drals. There is a genuine ring in this comprehensive coun-
sel : ' My earnest advice would be, kill the dogs, introduce
settlers, encourage domestic manufactures, home-made
linen and home-spun cloth, and Newfoundland will be-
come the Paradise of the working man.'

The mineral capabilities of the country are now attract-
ing attention, and promise to prove an important element
in its resources. A inineralogical survey, instituted by the
Government, is in progress, and the results already estab-
lished justify considerable expectations. A copper mine is
in successful operation ; and besides copper, lead and coals
are known to exist in several parts of the island. The
Government afford every encouragement to mining enter-
prise. For a fine of 51. any one may obtain a licence of
search over three square miles, and at any time within two
years he can select from the tract over which his licence
extends one square mile, for which he becomes entitled to
a grant in fee, the only further charge being a royalty of
2£ per cent, for the first five years' working. "With such
liberal terms on the part of the Government, aided by the
valuable information which their survey is likely to diffuse,
it may fairly be expected that the latent mineral wealth of
Newfoundland may ere long afford employment to many
thousands of its population.

The Irish portion of the colonists are not in any respect

176 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

inferior to their neighbours of other nationalities. Whether
in the professions, as merchants and traders, or as daring
and successful fishermen, they enjoy an enviable position,
and maintain the highest character. For their numbers the
Irish men of business represent as large an amount of
wealth as any other class in the colony, and in influence
and general repute they are not second to those with whom
they are associated. In the Government the Catholic
element is adequately felt, and the right of Catholics to
the enjoyment of their legitimate influence is not ques-
tioned even by the most extreme of their opponents.
' They have,' says a distinguished Catholic layman, ' their
full measure of equal privileges, and neither their country
nor their creed is a bar to advancement in any of the walks
of life/

In daring and energy in the prosecution of their adven-
turous pursuit, the Irish are in every respect equal to the
other fishermen who hunt the seal, or capture the cod and
ling of the great bank. Indeed it would be difficult to see
anywhere a body of men more full of life, vigour, and
intelligence, than may be found issuing from the Catholic
cathedral any Sunday in those portions of the year when
the fishermen are at home. There is, however, one thing
to be regretted — that the money so gallantly earned is not
always wisely spent. It is a matter of regret that the
nature of the fisheries is such as to leave long intervals of
unemployed time at the disposal of those engaged in them,
and this is especially felt when the fisheries are unpro-
ductive. In prosperous seasons the earnings of the men
are sufficient for their swppc rt for the year ; but this
facility of earning money has its disadvantages, particu-
larly in inducing a spirit of recklessness and habits of
extravagance, which not unfrequently tend to much misery.
It is no uncommon thing in the seal fishery for a man to
earn 20£., 30/., or even more, in a month or five weeks ;
but, alas ! it often goes as rapidly as it is acquired. This,

RECKLESS IMPROVIDENCE- KINDLY RELATIONS. 177

unfortunately for the world at large, is a common result
with money so rapidly earned ; but in Newfoundland there
is the superadded evil of long intervals of idleness, during
which the once jovial sinner mourns, in sackcloth and ashes
and unavailing repentance, the follies of his prosperous
hours. The Irish, perhaps, are not worse than others in
their spirit of recklessness, and their habits of baneful
indulgence ; but certainly they are not better than their
neighbours in this respect. Social, impulsive, and gener-
ous, there are no people in the world, Newfoundland in-
cluded, whom self-restraint would benefit more than those
of Irish birth or origin.

Even so far back as the commencement of the century,
the Irish merchants had taken a prominent position in the
colony; and in 1806 the Benevolent Irish Society was
formed — an institution which had for its object the relief
of the distressed without any distinction, and the fostering
of national feeling and spirit. The promoters were some
of the foremost men in the colony, Protestants and Catho-
lics, between whom the most friendly relations existed ; and
the meetings and proceedings of this body did no little to
influence the tone and temper of the community at large.
Its annual celebrations of St. Patrick's Day, in which men
of all creeds and countries participated, were held in great
esteem, as much for the kindly sentiments they encouraged,
as for the social enjoyment they were always certain to
afford. This society, after a life of sixty years, is still in
existence ; and not only does it fulfil its mission of benevo-
lence in the same spirit in which it was founded, but its
annual reunions continue to be an agreeable feature in the
festivities of St. John's.

Newfoundland may look in vain for a grievance ; but
should it discover one, it has the means within itself of
quickly setting it at rest. Its inhabitants of all denomina-
tions enjoy in unimpaired fulness the blessings of civil
and religious freedom : there are no hirassing and vexa-

178 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

tious meddlings with education ; and if a considerable
portion of the population do not occupy the soil by the
best of all tenures, the fault does not He with those who
legislate for and govern them. That a good understanding
between all classes of the community is the result of just
laws wisely administered, we may take the conclusive
evidence of Dr. Mullock, who thus bears witness to its
existence : —

Allow me to say a few words of my experience of the people : I have
found them, in all parts of the island, hospitable, generous, and obliging ;
Catholics and Protestants live together in the greatest harmony, and it is
ou\jm print we find anything, except on extraordinary occasions, like
disunion among them. I have always, in the most Protestant districts,
experienced kindness and consideration — I speak not only of the agents
of the mercantile houses, who are remarkable for their hospitality and
attention to all visitors, or of magistrates, but the Protestant fishermen
were always ready to join Catholics in manning a boat when I required
it, and I am happy to say that the Catholics have acted likewise to their
clergymen. It is a pleasing reflection that though we are not immacu-
late, and rum sometimes excites to evil, still, out of a population of over
130,000, we have rarely more than eight or ten prisoners in gaol, and
grievous crimes are, happily, most rare, capital offences scarcely heard of.

From a communication which I have received from an
eminent citizen of St. John's, to whose kindness I am much
indebted, I take the following passage : —

4 The Irish girls " to the manner born." are almost extinct, in this
island, emigration for many years past having almost entirely ceased.
But the Irish of native growth are, as a class, intelligent, well-developed,
and industrious. Immorality is rare among them, as may be shown by a
record of last years births in St. John's, from which it appears that of 725
births. 12 only were illegitimate, or less than two per cent, of the whole.
This, too. is not an exceptional year, but may be taken as a fair criterion
of the morality of the Irish girls. The educational labours of the Nuns
are doing much to preserve the virtue of the female youth and no-
where are these holy women more valued than here.'

CHAPTER X.

The Irish Exodus— Emigration, its Dangers by Sea and Land —
Captain and Crew well matched — How Things were done Twenty
Years since — The Emigration Commission and its Work — Land-
sharks and their Prey — Finding Canal Street — A Scotch Victim
— The Sharks and Cormorants— Bogus Tickets— How the 'Out-
laws ' resisted Reform — The New System — The days of Bogus
Tickets gone — A Word of Advice — Working of the System — In-
telligence and Labour Department— Miss Nightingale's Opinion —
Necessity for Constant Vigilance— The last Case one of the Worst.

riMHERE are few sadder episodes in the history of the
JL world than the story of the Irish Exodus. Impelled,
to a certain degree, by a spirit of adventure, but mainly
driven from their native land by the operation of laws
which, if not opposed to the genius of the people, were un-
suited to the special circumstances of their country, mil-
lions of the Irish race have braved the dangers of an un-
known element, and faced the perils of a new existence,
in search of a home across the Atlantic. At times, this
European life-stream flowed towards the New World in
a broad and steady current ; at others, it assumed the
character of a resistless rush, breaking on the shores of
America with so formidable a tide as to baffle every
anticipation, and render the ordinary means of humane or
sanitary precaution altogether inadequate and unavailing.

Different indeed, in most of its features, is the emigration
of to-day from that of thirty, or twenty, or even a dozen
years since. A quarter of a century since, and much later
still, the emigrant seemed marked out, as it were, as the
legitimate object of plunder and oppression ; and were not
the frauds of which these helpless people were made the
constant victims, matters of public record, and against
which legislatures at both sides of the ocean struggled, and

180 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

for a time ineffectually, one could scarcely credit the lengths
to which those who lived upon plunder carried their au-
dacity. Little did the intending emigrants know of the
difficulties and dangers that lay in their path in every
stage of their momentous journey by land and water, by
city and by sea. Little knew the poor mother, as she
imparted her last benediction to her 'boy and girl' — the
adventurous pioneers of the family — the perils that lay in
her children's way ; how fraud and robbery, and in friendly
guise too, would track them across the ocean, perhaps
sail with them in the same ship, even lie with them in
the same berth ; and how nothing short of the inter-
position of a merciful Providence could save them from
utter and irremediable ruin.

The ships, of which such glowing accounts were read
on Sunday by the Irish peasant, on the flaming placards
posted near the chapel gate, were but too often old and
unseaworthy, insufficient in accommodation, without the
means of maintaining the most ordinary decency, with bad
or scanty provisions, not having even an adequate supply
of water for a long voyage ; and to render matters worse,
they, as a rule rather than as the exception, were shame-
fully underhanded. True, the provisions and the crew
passed muster in Liverpool — for, twenty years since, and
long after, it was from that port the greater number of
the emigrants to America sailed ; but there were tenders
and lighters to follow the vessel out to sea ; and over the
sides of that vessel several of the mustered men would
pass, and casks, and boxes, and sacks would be expe-
ditiously hoisted, to the amazement of the simple people,
who looked on at the strange, and to them unaccountable
operation. And thus the great ship, with its living freight
would turn her prow towards the "West, depending on her
male passengers, as upon so many impressed seamen, to
handle her ropes, or to work her pumps in case of accident,
which was only too common under such circumstances.

THE EXODUS— EMIGRATION AS IT WAS. 181

What with bad or scanty provisions, scarcity of water,
severe hardship, and long confinement in a foul den, ship
fever reaped a glorious harvest between decks, as frequent
ominous splashes of shot-weighted corpses into the deep
but too terribly testified. Whatever the cause, the deaths
on board the British ships enormously exceeded the mor-
tality on board the ships of any other country. For in-
stance, according to the records of the Commissioners of
Emigration for the State of New York, the quota of sick
per thousand stood thus in 1847 and 1848 — British ves-
sels, 30 ; American, 9f ; Germans, 8f . It was no unusual
occurrence for the survivor of a family of ten or twelve
to land alone, bewildered and broken-hearted, on the
wharf at New York ; the rest — the family — parents and
children, had been swallowed in the sea, their bodies mark-
ing the course of the ship to the New World.

But there were worse dangers than sickness, greater
calamities than death and a grave in the ocean, with the
chance of becoming food for the hungry shark. There was
no protection against lawless violence and brutal lust on
the one hand, or physical helplessness and moral prostra-
tion on the other. To the clergyman, the physician, and
the magistrate, are known many a sad tale of human wreck
and dishonour, having their origin in the emigrant sailing
ship of not many years since. Even so late as 1860, an
Act was passed by Congress fto regulate the carriage of
passengers in steamships and other vessels, for the better
protection of female passengers'; and a single clause of
this Act, which it is necessary to quote, is a conclusive
proof of the constant and daily existence of the most fear-
ful danger to the safety of the poor emigrant girl. Every
line of the clause is an evidence of the evil it endeavours
to arrest : —

That eveiy master or other officer, seaman, or other person em-
ployed on board of any ship or vessel of the United States, who
shall, during the voyage of such ship or vessel, under promise of

182 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

marriage, or by threats, or by the exercise of his authority, or by
solicitation, or the making of gifts or presents, seduce . . . any
female passenger, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and upon con-
viction shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding
one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ; provided
that the subsequent intermarriage of the parties seducing and seduced
may be pleaded in bar of conviction.

It is further provided, by the second clause, that neither
officers, nor seamen, nor others employed on board, shall
visit or frequent any part of such ship or vessel assigned
to emigrant passengers, except by direction or permission
of the master or commander, 'first made or given for
such purpose.' Forfeiture of his wages for the voyage is
the penalty attaching to any officer or seaman violating
this wholesome rule ; and the master or commander who
shall direct or permit any of his officers or seamen to visit
or frequent any part of the ship assigned to Emigrant
passengers, except for the purpose of performing some
necessary act or duty, shall, upon conviction, be punished
by a fine of 50 dollars for each separate offence. And the
master or commander who does not 'post a written or
printed notice, in the English, French, and German lan-
guages,' containing the provision of the foregoing or second
section, in a conspicuous place on the forecastle, and in the
several parts of the ships assigned to emigrant passengers,
and keep it posted during the voyage, shall be liable to a
penalty not exceeding 500 dollars.

This is a wise and humane Act, passed at any time ; but
what lives of shame and deaths of misery would it not have
prevented had it been in active operation for the last quar-
ter of a century, as a restraint upon lawless brutality !

Before leaving the ship for the land, it may not be out
of place to afford the reader, through the testimony of a
reliable witness, Mr. Vere Foster, a notion of the . manner
in which emigrants were treated in some vessels, the dis-
honesty of whose owners or charterers was only equalled by
the ruffianism of their officers and crews. The letter from

CAPTAIN AND CREW WELL MATCHED. 1S3

which the extract was taken was published in 1851 by
order of the House of Commons ; but facts similar to those
described by Mr. Foster have been frequently complained
of since then. The ship in question had 900 passengers
on board, and this is a sample of the manner in which the
luckless people were supplied with a great necessary of
life :-

The serving out of the water was twice capriciously stopped by the
mates of the ship, who during the whole time, without any provocation,
cursed and abused, and cuffed and kicked, the passengers and their tin
cans, and, having served out water to about 30 persons, in two separate
times, said they would give no more water out till the next morning, and
kept their word.

A very simple mode was adopted of economising the
ship's stores — namely, that of not issuing provisions of any
kind for four days ; and had it not been for the following
remonstrance, it is probable that as many more days would
have passed without their being issued : —

RESPECTED SIR, — We, the undersigned passengers on board the ship
. . . . ' . paid for and secured our passages in her in the confident
expectation that the allowance of provisions promised in our contract
tickets would be faithfully delivered to us. Four entire days having
expired since the day on which (some of us having been on board
from that day, and most of us from before that day) the ship was ap-
pointed to sail, and three entire days since she actually sailed from
the port of Liverpool, without our having received one particle of
the stipulated provisions excepting water, and many of us having
made no provision to meet such an emergency, we request that you will
inform us when we may expect to commence receiving the allowance
which is our due.

It may be interesting to know in what manner this ap-
plication was received by the mild-mannered gentleman
in command. It appears that captain pncl mate were
singularly well-matched ; indeed, it would be difficult to
decide to which of the two amiable beings the merit of
gentleness and good temper should be awarded. Mr.

184 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Foster thus describes the agreeable nature of his recep-
tion : —

On the morning of the 31st October, I presented the letter to Cap-
tain . He asked me the purport of it, and bade me read it. Hav-
ing read out one-third of it, he said that was enough, and that he knew
what I was; I was a damned pirate, a damned rascal, and that he would
put me in irons and on bread and water throughout the rest of the voyage.
The first mate then came up, and abused me foully and blasphe-
mously, and pushed me down, bidding me get out of that, as I was

a damned b . He was found by one of the passengers soon

afterwards, heating a thick bar of iron at the kitchen fire ; the cook
said, ' What is he doing that for ? ' and the mate said. ' There is

a damned b on board, to whom I intend giving a singeing before

lie leaves the ship.'

As a single example of the treatment to which the help-
less and the feeble are exposed from brutes who luxuriate
in violence and blasphemy, this incident, the more impres-
sive because of the homely language in which it is told,
may be given : —

A delicate old man. named John M'Corcoran, of berth No. Ill,
informed me that on Sunday last he had just come on deck, and, after
washing, was wringing a pair of stockings, when the first mate gave him
such a severe kick with his knee on his backside as he was stooping
down, that he threw him down upon the deck, since which he has been
obliged to go to the watercloset three or four times a day, passing blood
every time.

These extracts, quoted with the purpose of illustrating
the harsh, brutal, and dishonest conduct too often practised
against emigrants in some ships — mostly sailing ships — are
relied on as accurate, being vouched for by the signature
of a gentleman whose name has long been associated with
deeds of active humanity and practical benevolence.

"Within sight of the wished-for land, the trials of the
emigrant might be said to have begun rather than to have
ended ; or rather the trials on land succeeded to the trials
on sea.

Previously to the year 1847, the alien emigrant was
left either to the general quarantine and poor-laws, or to

HOW THINGS WERE DONE TWENTY YEARS SINCE. 185

local laws and ordinances, varying in their character, or in
their administration. A general tax on all passengers
arriving at the port of New York was applied to the sup-
port of the Marine Hospital at Quarantine, where the alien
sick were received and treated ; but this was all that the
humanity of that day provided for the relief of those whom
necessity had driven to the shores of America. By the
local laws, the owners of vessels bringing foreign emigrants
were required to enter into bonds indemnifying the city
and county in case of their becoming chargeable under
the poor-laws. These provisions wrere found to be incon-
venient to the shipowner, owing to the great increase of
emigration from the year 1840 to the year 1847, and were
altogether insufficient as a means of protection to the
emigrant against the consequences of disease or destitu-
tion. The bonds were onerous to the respectable ship-
owner, and a rope of sand to the fraudulent. The ship-
owner, too, adopted a means of evading his responsibility
by transferring it to the shipbroker, a person generally of
an inferior class ; and the shipbroker thus consenting to
stand in the place and assume the responsibility of the
owner, the ship and her living freight were unreservedly
surrendered to him. The shipowner had the alternative
either to give bonds of indemnity to the city against
possible chargeability, or compound for a certain sum per
head, and thus rid himself of all future responsibility ; but
he found it more convenient to deal with the broker than
with the city authorities. The broker freely gave his
bond ; but when tested, it was in most instances found to
be valueless, he generally being a man of straw. To
the tender mercies of the broker the emigrant was thus
abandoned.

Private hospitals, or poor-houses, were established by
the brokers on the outskirts of New York and Brooklyn ;
and from the results of an inquiry instituted by the Board
of Aldermen of New York in the year 1846, an idea may

186 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

be formed of the treatment received by the wretched
emigrants whose hard fate drove them into those institu-
tions. The Committee discovered in one apartment, 50
feet square, 100 sick and dying emigrants lying on straw ;
and among them, in their midst, the bodies of two who
had died four or five days before, but been left for that
time without burial! They found, in the course of their
inquiry, that decayed vegetables, bad flour, and putrid
meat, were specially purchased and provided for the use of
the strangers ! Such as had strength to escape from these
slaughter-houses fled from them, as from a plague, and
roamed through the city, exciting the compassion, perhaps
the horror, of the passers-by ; * those who were too ill to
escape had to take their chance — such chance as poisonous
food, infected air, and bad treatment afforded them of
ultimate recovery. Thanks to the magnitude and notoriety
of the fearful abuses of the system then shown to exist, a
remedy, at once comprehensive and efficacious, was adopted
— not, it is true, to come into immediate operation, but to
prove in course of time one of the noblest monuments of
enlightened wisdom and practical philanthropy. In the
Preface to the published Reports of the Commissioners of
Emigration, from the organisation of the Commission in
1847 to 1860, the origin of the good work is thus told : —

* A prominent and much respected citizen of New York, born of Irish 'parents,
eminent for ability and humanity, assured me he never could forget the appearance
of a miserable old Irish woman who, as the snow lay on the ground, and a bitter
wind swept through the streets, was begging one Sunday morning in Broadway.
Her hair was almost white, her look that of starvation, and the clothing, if such
it could be called, as scanty as the barest decency might permit. Shivering and
hungry, she held out her lean hands in mute petition to well-clad passers-by —
her air and attitude as much a prayer for compassion in God's name, as if her
tongue had expressed it in words. This half-naked, starving, shivering creature
was one of a ship-load of human beings who had been ' packed off to America '
by an absentee nobleman enjoying a wide reputation for benevolence! She was
but a type of the thousands whom a similar lofty humanity had consigned to the
fever-ship and the fever-shed, or flung, naked and destitute, on the streets of
New York, objects of pity or of terror to its citizens, and of scandal to the civilised
world.

THE EMIGRATION COMMISSION AND ITS WORK. 187

This state of things was becoming more distressing as emigration
grew larger, and it even threatened danger to the public health. A
number of citizens, to whose notice these facts were specially and
frequently brought — to some from their connection with commerce
and navigation, to others from personal sympathy with the children
of the land of their own nativity, — met about the close of the year
1846, or the winter of 1847, and consulted on the means of remedy-
ing these evils. They proposed and agreed upon a plan of relief, which
was presented to the Legislature of the State of New York, and
was passed into a law in the session of 1847. The system then re-
commended and adopted was that of a permanent commission for the
relief and protection of alien emigrants arriving at the port of New
York, to whose aid such emigrants should be entitled for five years
after their arrival, the expenses of their establishment and other
relief being defrayed by a small commutative payment from each
emigrant*

Figures, however gigantic, afford but an imperfect
notion of the work, the self-imposed and disinterested
work, of this Commission — of the good they have ac-
complished, and, more important still, the evil they have
prevented. When it is stated that from May 1847 to the
close of 1866, the number of passengers who arrived at
the port of New York was 3,659,000 — about one-third of
whom received temporary relief from the Commissioners —
we may understand how wide and vast was the field of
their benevolent labours. But in order to appreciate the
protection they afforded to those who had hitherto been
unprotected, and the villanies they successfully baffled, it
is necessary to describe some of the dangers which dogged
the footsteps of the emigrant after landing in New York.

As voracious fish devour the smaller and helpless of the
finny tribe, so did a host of human sharks and cormorants
prey upon the unhappy emigrant, whose innocence and
inexperience left him or her completely at their mercy;
and scant was the mercy they vouchsafed their victims.
These bandits — for such they literally were, notwithstand-
ing that they did not exactly strike down their victims with
pistol or with po:gnard — assumed many forms, such as
* Now two dollars and a-half.

188 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

brokers, runners, boarding-house keepers, commission
agents, sellers of 'bogus' tickets, and others; and from
their number and audacity they appeared to set all law and
authority at defiance. To such an extent had their daring
depredations been carried, that the. Legislature, in 1846,
appointed a Select Committee to investigate their practices.
But, in their first 'annual report, the Commissioners are
compelled to acknowledge how little was the practical good
resulting from the inquiry and its consequent disclosures ;
for they say — ' It is a matter of almost daily observation
by persons in the employ of the Commissioners, that the
frauds exposed in the. Report of the Select Committee,
appointed last year to examine frauds upon emigrants,
continued to be practised with as much boldness and
frequency as ever. A regular and systematic course of
deception and fraud is continually in operation, whereby
the emigrant is deprived of a large portion of the means
intended to aid him in procuring a home in the country of
his adoption.'

To do the Legislature justice, it freely passed laws to
guard the poor alien from ' those enemies of the emigrant '
— agents, runners, forwarders, and brokers, and also in-
vested the Commissioners with considerable powers; but
the best intentions of the Legislature, and the most
earnest exertions of the Commissioners, were baffled by
unexpected obstacles ; and it was not until after having
encountered difficulties and borne with disappointments
which would have daunted benevolence less courageous
than theirs, that, in the year 1855, the Commissioners
succeeded in securing the grand object of their persistent
efforts ; namely, the possession of an official landing-place for
all the emigrants arriving at the port of New York. They
were from the first fully alive to the importance of obtain-
ing this landing place ; and in their second Report they
express their regret that, being unable to obtain the use
of a pier for this purpose, and consequently being unable

LAND SHARKS AND THEIR PREY. 189

to reach tjie emigrant before lie falls amongst those who
stand ready to -deceive him, frauds, which formerly excited
so much indignation and sympathy, are continued with as
much boldness and frequency as ever.

The law also attempted to regulate the charges in board-
ing-houses, and protect the luggage of the emigrant from
the clutches of the proprietors of these establishments ;
but it appeared only to render the lot of the emigrant one
of still greater hardship ; for what could no longer be le-
gally retained was illegally made away with. In their Re-
port for 1848, the Commissioners refer to the new system
adopted in these houses : — ' Of late, robberies of luggage
from emigrant boarding-houses have become of frequent
occurrence, so as to have excited the suspicion that in some
instances the keepers of the houses are not altogether free
from participation in the robbery. If the tavern keeper
has reason to apprehend that the lodger will not be able
to pay his bill, and knowing that the law prohibits his re-
taining the luggage, he may think it proper to secure his
claim without law.'

I must confess to being immensely amused at hearing
from one who had passed through the ordeal, how he had
been dealt with in the fine old time of unrestricted plunder,
when the emigrant was left to his fate — that fate assuming
the substantial form of the runner and the boarding-house
keeper. My informant was a great, broad-shouldered,
red-haired Irishman, over six feet ' in his stocking- vamps,'
and who, I may add, on the best authority, bore himself
gallantly in the late war, under the banner of the Union.
He was but a very young lad when, in 1848, he came to
New York, with a companion of his own age, 'to better
his fortune,' as many a good Irishman had endeavoured to
do before him. He possessed, besides splendid health
and a capacity for hard work, a box of tools, a bundle of
clothes, and a few pounds in gold — not a bad outfit for a
good-tempered young Irishman, with a red head, broad

190 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

shoulders, grind appetite, and fast rising to the six feet.
The moment he landed, his luggage was pounced upon by
two runners, one seizing the box of tools, the other con-
fiscating the clothes. The future American citizen assured
his obliging friends that he was quite capable of carrying
his own luggage ; but no, they should relieve him — the
stranger, and guest of the Republic — of that trouble. Each
was in the interest of a different boarding-house, and each
insisted that the young Irishman with the red head should
go with him — a proposition that, to any but a New York
runner, would seem, if not altogether impossible, at least
most difficult of accomplishment. Not being able to
oblige both the gentlemen, he could only oblige one ; and
as the tools were more valuable than the clothes, he fol-
lowed in the path of the gentleman who had secured that
portion of the 'plunder.' He remembers that the two
gentlemen wore very pronounced green neck-ties, and
spoke with a richness of accent that denoted special if
not conscientious cultivation ; and on his arrival at the
boarding-house, he was cheered with the announcement
that its proprietor was from 'the ould counthry, and loved
every sod of it, God bless it ! ' In a manner truly paternal,
the host warned the two lads against the dangers of the
streets ; and so darkly did he paint the horrors, and
villanies, and murders of all kinds, that were sure to rain
down upon their innocent heads, that the poor boys .were
frightened into a rigid seclusion from the world outside,
and occupied their time as best they could, not forgetting
'the eating and the drinking' which the house afforded.
The young Irishman with the red head imparted to the
host the fact of his having a friend in Canal Street —
' wherever Canal Street was ' ; and that the friend had been
some six years in New York, and knew the place well, and
was to procure employment for him as soon as they met :
and he concluded by asking how he could get to Canal
Street. 'Canal Street!— is it Canal Street?— why then

FINDING CANAL STREET. 191

what a mortal pity, and the stage to go just an hour before
you entered this very door ! My, my ! that's unfortunate ;
isn't it ? Well, no matter, there'll be another in two days'
time, or three at farthest, and I'll be sure to see you sent
there all right — depend your life on me when I say it/
said the jovial kindly host. For full forty-eight hours the
two lads, who were as innocent as a brace of young goslings,
endured the irksome monotony of the boarding-house, even
though that abode of hospitality was cheered by the
presence of its jovial host, who loved every sod of the
' ould counthry ; ' but human nature cannot endure beyond
a certain limit — and the two lads resolved, in sheer
desperation, to break bounds at any hazard. They roamed
through the streets for some time, without any special ill
befalling them. Meeting a policeman, the young fellow
with the red head suggested to his companion the possi-
bility of the official knowing something about Canal
Street ; and as his companion had nothing to urge against
it, they approached that functionary, and boldly pro-
pounded the question to him — where Canal Street was,
and how it could be reached? 'Why, then, my man,'
replied the policeman, who also happened to be a com-
patriot, 'if you only follow your nose for the space of
twenty minutes in that direction, you'll come to Canal
Street, and no mistake about it ; you'll see the name
on the corner, in big letters, if you can read — as I suppose
you can, for you look to be two decent boys.' Canal Street
in twenty minutes ! Here indeed' was a pleasant surprise
for the young fellows, who had been told to ,wait for
the stage, which, according to the veracious host, 'was
due in about another day.' Of course they did ollow
their respective noses until they actually reached Canal
Street, found the number of the house in which their
friend resided, and discovered the friend himself, to whom
they recounted their brief adventures in New York.
Thanks to the smartness of their acclimated friend, they

192 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

recovered their effects, but not before they disbursed to
the jovial host, who * loved every sod of the ould counthry,
God bless it ! ' more than would have enabled them to fare
sumptuously at the Astor. And as the great strapping
fellow — who had since seen many a brave man die with
his face to the foe — told the tale of his first introduction
to the Empire City, he actually looked sheepish at its
recollection, and then laughed heartily at a simplicity
which had long since become, with him, a weakness of
the past.

As a companion picture to the foregoing, the story of a
Scotch victim, who was driven crazy by the vigorous appli-
cation of the fleecing process, will exhibit the manner in
which things were done before the Castle Garden era.
This was part of the evidence taken in 1847 : —

Testimony of the St. Andrew's Society, We, the undersigned,
officers of St. Andrew's Society, in the city of Albany, do hereby certify
that on or about the 2nd day of August last it was represented to us
by a manager of our society that a Scotch emigrant, by the name of
James Heeslop, had been gi*ossly defrauded and swindled out of his
money by the runners, or the robbing concerns lor whom these run-
ners do business. We immediately went on the dock, and made
inquiries after Heeslop, when we were informed that he had been
despatched on a boat to his destination ; we had him followed to
Troy, and brought back. The story he told the police justice, Cole, ia
our presence, in asking for a warrant against the notorious Smethurst,
was in substance as follows: — That he arrived in New York from
Scotland a few days previous ; that his destination was Port Wash-
ington, in the State of Ohio: that he was accosted by a person in
New York near the Albany steamboat, who represented himself as a
forwarding agent, and with whom he (Heeslop) agreed for the pas-
sage of himself and family (three persons), from there to his destina-
tion, and paid the said agent, therefore, four British sovereigns, the
agent consigning Heeslop to the care of Smethurst and Co. He gave
Heeslop tickets which the agent told him would carry him through.
That a short time after the boat started. Heeslop was accosted by a
second person, who likewise represented himself as forwarding agent,
and having learned the destination and particulars of Heeslop's affairs,
asked to look at his tickets ; that Heeslop showed him the tickets,
and the agent told Heeslop that the other agent had mistaken,

SHARKS AND CORMORANTS. 193

that these tickets were only good as far as Buffalo and that in order to
make sure his passage, it would be necessary for him (the said Heeslop)
to pay him (the said second agent) a further payment of three sovereigns,
which Heeslop had to pay when he arrived at Albany. They told
Heeslop at the office of Smethurst and Co., that he should pay in ad-
dition the sum of eight sovereigns, together with fifteen sovereigns more
for his luggage; that the said Heeslop being rendered almost crazy
by these repeated plunderings, and, wishing at all hazards to proceed
to his destination and true friends, he paid down the further demand
of twenty-three sovereigns, and was then put on board a canal boat,
where the undersigned found him and brought him back as aforesaid.
That the police justice, on hearing the poor plundered man's tale,
immediately issued a warrant for the arrest of Smethurst, but he was
nowhere to be found ; and when Smethurst made his appearance
again, the Scotch emigrant was missing — the instruments and associates
of Smethurst having in the meantime cajoled or sent him from the
city.

• Thus it will be perceived, that thirty sovereigns, or one. hundred and
forty-five dollars, were extorted from this poor man for fare, and to a
place, the ordinary price to which from New York is two dollars and
eighty-seven cents a passenger, or eight dollars and sixty-one cents for
Heeslop and his family, thus leaving those rapacious forwarders the
swindling profit of one hundred and thirty-six dollars in this single
case. All of which is respectfully submitted.'

So long as the Commissioners were unable to obtain the
com'pulsory landing-place for all emigrants arriving at
New York, the runners, and brokers, and ticket-sellers,
and money-changers, had everything their own way ; and
terrible were the consequences of their practical immu-
nity. Swarming about the wharves, which they literally
infested, all, — the emigrant passenger, his luggage, his
money, his very future, — was at their mercy. The stranger
knew nothing of the value of exchange, nor how many
dollars he should receive for his gold ; but his new-found
friend did, and gave him just as much as he could not
venture to withhold from him. Then there were the tickets
for the inland journey to be purchased, and the new-found
friend with the green necktie and the genuine brogue
could procure these for him on terms the most advan-
tageous : indeed, it was fortunate for the emigrant that he

9

194 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

fell into the hands of 'an honest man at any rate' — 'for,
Lord bless us ! there are so many rogues to be met with
now-a-days.'

An instance of ready reckoning, most favourable to the
ingenious arithmetician, is recorded in the evidence taken
in 1847. Pat had but a poor chance against such a master
of finance. The writer says, ' I was in a boarding-house
in Cherry Street ; a man came up to pay his bill, which
the landlord made out 18 dollars. " Why," says the man,
" did not you agree to board me for sixpence a meal, and
threepence for a bed ? " " Yes," says the landlord, " and
that makes just 75 cents per day ; you have been here
eight days, and that makes just 18 dollars." At three-
quarters of a dollar per day, the bill should have been six
dollars ; so the ready reckoner made twelve dollars by nis
genius for multiplication.

Among the most fruitful means of fraud was the sale of
tickets. These tickets were of various kinds — tickets sold
at exorbitant prices, but good for the journey; tickets
which carried the passenger only a portion of his journey,
though sold for the entire route ; and tickets utterly
worthless, issued by companies that had long before been
bankrupt, or by companies that existed only in imagina-
tion. These latter are called 'bogus' tickets; and these
were sold in Europe as well as in America — in village and
country town, as in city and in seaport; and not. rarely
were they palmed off on the confiding passenger, as 'a
great bargain,' by a sympathising, good-natured fellow-
passenger, who, by the merest luck, had bought them
cheap from a family he knew at home, that had ' changed
their minds, and wouldn't cross over, being afeard of
the say.'

In 1848 the Commissioners of Emigration issued a
circular, in which these passages occur : —

' As may be supposed, there are many people engaged in the busi-
ness of forwarding .these emigrants, and the individuals or companies

BOGUS TICKETS. 195

thus engaged employ a host of clerks or servants, called " runners,'7 who
try to meet the new-comer on board the ship that brings him, or imme-
diately after he puts his foot on shore, for the purpose of carrying him to
the forwarding offices for which they respectively act. The tricks re-
sorted to, in order to forestall a competitor and secure the emigrant,
would be amusing, if they were not at the cost of the inexperienced and
unexpecting stranger ; and it is but too true that an enormous sum of
money is annually lost to the emigrants by the wiles and false statements
of the emigrant runners, many of them originally from their own country,
and speaking their native language.

• Of late the field of operations of these " emigrant runners " is no

longer confined to this city ; it extends to Europe They

generally call themselves agents of some transportation, or forwarding
bureau, and endeavour to impress the emigrant who intends going far-
ther than New York with the belief that it is for his benefit, and in the
highest degree desirable, to secure his passage hence to the place of his

destination, before he leaves Europe He is told that,

unless he does so, he runs great risk of being detained, or having to pay
exorbitant prices , , . .

' Instances have come to the knowledge of the Commissioners, where
the difference amounted to three dollars a person. But this is not all.
The cases are by no means rare, in which the tickets prove entirely worth-
less. They bear the name of offices which never existed, and then, of
course, are nowhere respected ; or, the offices whose names they bear
will be found shut up, and are not likely ever to re-open : or the emi-
grants are directed to parties refusing to acknowledge the agent who
issued the tickets, and in all these cases the emigrant loses the money
paid for them.'

A profitable fraud is not to be suppressed without much
difficulty ; and even in 1857 — nine years after — we find the
iniquity of the bogus ticket in active operation. In a letter
addressed to the Secretary of State, the Commissioners
assert that the chief operators in this system of fraud
have not only opened offices in the several seaports where
emigrants usually embark, but have also established agen-
cies in towns in the interior of those countries, and in the
very villages whence families are likely to emigrate.
Excluding Hamburg and Bremen from their observations,
the Commissioners add that 'very many of those from
other ports are first defrauded of their means by being

196 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

induced to purchase tickets for railroad and water travel in
this country, at high prices, which, when presented here,
are found to be either quite worthless, or to carry the
holders to some point in the interior far short of their
destination, where they are left destitute.' Mr. Marcy, in
reply, states that he has addressed a circular letter to the
diplomatic and consular agents of the United States in
those countries of Europe from which emigrants chiefly
proceed, and instructed them to bring the subject to the
notice of the Governments to which they were accredited,
or of the authorities of the place where they reside, and
to ask for the adoption of such measures ' as may be re-
quired by the claims of humanity and the comity of
nations.'

What a gauntlet the helpless emigrant had to run before
he was fairly on the road to his land of promise ! Many
were strong enough to break through, or fortunate enough
to slip through, this net-work of fraud ; but it may well be
doubted if, for some years at least, those so strong or so
fortunate were the greater number, It is lamentably true,
that many, many thousands had their wings so effectually
clipped — nay, so utterly plucked were they by the patriotic
gentlemen with the green neckties, or the ladies with the
green ribands, that they could not get beyond New York,
into which, though perhaps altogether unsuited to the life
of a city, the miserable victims of heartless fraud and piti-
less robbery sank down to a lot of hardship, it might be of
degradation and of ruin. It is heart-rending to think of
the tremendous consequences of these systematic villanies,
and to reflect how thousands of people were thus fatally
arrested on their way to places specially suited to their
industry, and where, most probably, after the usual proba-
tionary hard work, they would have established themselves
in comfort and independence. Better for many of them,
old and young, the high-spirited boy and the innocent girl,
that they had become the prey of the sharks of the deep,

HOW THE 'OUTLAWS' RESISTED REFORM. 197

than that they had fallen into the clutches of the sharks of
the land.*

At length, in 1855, the Commissioners succeeded in
establishing Castle Garden as the landing-place for all
emigrants arriving at New York ; and among other benefits
which, in their report of that year, they enumerate as
resulting from the possession of this grand convenience,
they include 'the dispersion of a band of outlaws, at-
tracted to this port by plunder, from all parts of the
earth.' The 'outlaws' were perhaps not so effectually
dispersed as the Commissioners fondly imagined them to
be ; for so persistent were the attacks upon the system
established at Castle Garden — attacks made generally
through the public press — that the Grand Jury of the
County of New York was formally appealed to. Nominally
investigating certain charges made against the employees
of the railway companies doing business in Castle Garden,
the Grand Inquest really enquired into the entire system ;
and the result of that timely investigation was of the ut-
most consequence, in strengthening the hands of the Com-
missioners, and confounding their interested maligners.

' On inquiry,' they said, ' into the causes of certain published attacks
on the Emigrant Landing Dep6t, the Grand Inquest have become
satisfied that they emanate, in the first instance, from the very in-
terested parties against whose depredations Castle Garden affords pro-
tection to the emigrant, and who are chiefly runners in the employ
of booking-agents, boarding-house keepers, and others, who have lost
custom by the establishment of a central dep6t, where the railway

* The following, from the statement of Mr. Vere Foster, to which reference has
already been made, represents the state of things existing in 1850, and while
exhibiting the terrible injury inflicted on the inexperienced and defenceless
emigrant, affords a conclusive testimony in favour of an official landing-place,
where passengers arriving at New York could be protected from those who regarded
them as their lawful prey :—

' 3rd December. — A few of the passengers were taken ashore to the hospital at
•Staten Island, and we arrived alongside the quay at New York this afternoon.
' The 900 passengers dispersed as usual among the various fleecing houses, to be
•partially or entirely disabled for pursuing their travels into the interior in search of

198 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

companies have their own business done by their own clerks, without
the intervention of passage-brokers, &c.

' This class has thrown great difficulties in the way of the proper
development of affairs in Castle Garden, by constituting a noisy crowd
outside the gates, whose behaviour is utterly lawless, and endangers
the personal safety, not only of the passengers who have to leave the
Castle Garden to transact business in the city, but also the employees
of the Landing Depdt, and of individual Commissioners of Emigra-
tion, who are continually insulted in the public grounds surrounding
the dep6t. and have been obliged to carry loaded fire-arms in self-
defence against the violence which has frequently been offered to
them.'

The Grand Inquest, after administering some hard hits
to the local authorities, for the culpable remissness of the
police in preventing the disorders which they describe, thus
conclude :

' Having become satisfied that the Emigrant Landing Depot, in all
its operations, is a blessing, not only to emigrants, but to the commu-
nity at large, they would feel remiss in the performance of a sacred
duty if they failed to recommend this important philanthropic estab-
lishment to the fostering care of the municipal authorities ; and tlfey
had dismissed the complaints preferred against certain employers of
the Castle Garden, satisfied that they are not sustained by law, and
have their origin in a design to disturb, rather than to further, the
good work for which the establishment has been called into life by an
Act of Legislature of April 1856.'

This triumphant vindication of an institution which is
to none more important than to the Irish who seek a home
in America, bears the signature — 'Howell Hoppock, Fore-
man of Grand Jury.'

With a full knowledge of the evils with which the
Commissioners of Emigration had to contend, we shall be
better able to appreciate the leading features of the system
pursued at Castle Garden, and how far it realises the in-
tentions of its benevolent founders.

The emigrant ship* drops her anchor in the North Kiver,

* It will be seen from the following passage from the report of 1866— published
in 1867— that steamers are fast driving emigrant sailing ships from the sea. Con-
sidering the shortness of the voyage, and the generally excellent nature of the

THE NEW SYSTEM. 199

or upper part of the Bay, where she is compelled to await
the arrival of the steamer and barge belonging to the
Commissioners, by which passengers and their baggage are
landed at the wharf of Castle Garden ; which to the alien
is the Gate of the New World — the portal through which
he reaches the free soil of America. Passengers and their
baggage are under the protection of the Commissioners
from the moment they are thus transferred to their charge ;
and though the brood of cheats and harpies may grind their
teeth with rage as they remember the time when they were
the first to board the emigrant ship, and, as a matter of
undisputed right, take possession of her freight, living and
inanimate, -they know that their anger is unavailing, for
that their day of licence has passed. No sooner is the
ship's arrival notified at Castle Garden, than the officer on
duty obtains at the proper office a list of the passengers
for whom letters, or remittances, or instructions, have been
received by the Commissioners from friends who expected
their arrival by that vessel. The officer boards the ship in
his steamer ; and the first thing he does on reaching her
deck is to read aloud to the expectant hundreds, by whom
he is quickly surrounded, the names of the passengers on
his list, and announce that letters, or news, or money,
await them at Castle Garden. Cheering to the heart of
the anxious or desponding emigrant — probably a wife who
has come out to her husband, or a child in search of a
parent — is this joyful proclamation, it sounds so full of
welcome to the new home.* Too many, perhaps, feel their

accommodation in well appointed steamers, such as are at present employed in
the passenger trade, this is a revolution not to be regretted : —

•By comparison with former years it is shown that the number of steamers
'landing passengers at Castle Garden has increased from 22, bringing 5,111 pas-
'sengers, in 1856, to 109, bringing 34,247 passengers, in I860; to 95, bringing
•21,110 passengers, in 1861; to 100, bringing 25,843 p^sengers, in 1862: to 170,
•bringing 63,931 passengers, in 1863; to 203. bringing 81,794 passengers, in 1864;
'to 220, bringing 116,579 passengers, in 1865; and to 341 steamers, bringing
' 160:653 passengers, in 1866.'

* A considerable sum, amounting to 107,000 dollars, was received in 1866,
through various channels, in anticipation of the arrival of intending emigrants,

200 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

isolation or their disappointment the more poignantly from
there being no word of love, no sign of welcome to hail
their arrival.

The passengers are transferred to the steamer, and their
baggage to the barge, and landed at Castle Garden, where
their names and destinations are entered in a book kept
for that purpose. In the large building at the disposal of
the Commissioners the emigrants may obtain the luxury
of a thorough ablution, and the comfort of the first meal on
solid land ; and those who have brought out money with
them, or for whom their friends have sent remittances in
anticipation of their arrival, and who desire to push on —
North, South, or West — may at once start on their journey.
They can change their money for the currency of the
country, and purchase railway tickets to any part of the
"United States or Canada, and do so without going outside
the building, or risking the loss of its salutary protection.
They and their baggage are conveyed to the railway depot,
from which they start on their inland journey, fortunate
indeed in not having a single feather plucked from their
wing by watchful harpy.

Of many important and valuable departments of this
Landing Depot, those for the exchange of money and the
sale of railway or steamboat tickets are not the least impor-
tant or valuable. In the exchange department various na-
tionalities are represented ; and for a small percentage,
sufficient to remunerate the broker without oppressing the
emigrant, English and Irish, Germans, French, Swedes,
Danes, and others, may procure reliable money — not flash
notes — for their gold and silver and paper currency. The
exchange brokers admitted to do business in Castle Garden
are men of respectability ; but were they inclined to take

and applied to their forwarding. The amount received at the Landing DepCt
was 57,359 dollars ; at the office of the Irish Emigrant Society, 21,226 dollars ;
at the office of the German Society, 25,613k; besides other sums, amounting to
about 4,000 dollars.

THE DAYS OF BOGUS TICKETS GONE. 201

advantage of the simplicity of the emigrant, their prompt
expulsion would be the certain result. Here then, in a
most essential matter, is complete protection afforded to
the inexperienced and the helpless.

The sale of railway tickets, the fruitful source of rob-
bery and actual ruin in former days, is entrusted to re-
sponsible railway agents, over whom the Commissioners,
as in duty bound, maintain a watchful control, necessary
rather to prevent delay and inconvenience to the emigrant
than to protect him against positive fraud. It is the in-
terest of the railway companies represented in this bureau
to fulfil their engagements with honesty and liberality ; as
if they fail to do so, the Commissioners have sufficient
power to bring them to their senses.* Of bogus tickets
there need be no apprehension now, as in former times,
' when they were sold at home in the seaport town, and even
in the country village ; on board-ship during the voyage,
or on the wharves and in the streets of New York. The
mere loss of the purchase-money did not by any means
represent the infamy of the fraud or the magnitude of the
evil. Not only was the individual or the family effectually
plundered, but, being deprived of the paeans of transport,
they could not get beyond the precincts of the city in which
they first set foot, and thus all hopes of a future of profit-
able industry were lost to them for ever. The sale of rail-
road tickets in Castle Garden is therefore a protection of
the very first importance to the emigrant.

* The Commissioners, in a memorial addressed to the Senate of the United
States, in reference to a bill before Congress, dated June 6, 1866, refer to causes of
complaint brought before them through one of their officers. They say that, al-
though they have recently discovered some irregularities in connection with railroad
fares, of which they have reason to complain, they are assured and believe that all
causes of complaint had been promptly removed. The Commissioners are right
to compel those who avail themselves of the privilege of sale under their roof to
act in the most loyal fairness to their clients ; but, be the ' irregularities ' what
they may, they are but trifling indeed when contrasted with the abominable frauds
— the flagitious robberies at both sides of the Atlantic — practised only a few years
since, and practised with almost entire impunity.

202 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The baggage of the emigrant, which had been so long
the prey of the lodging-house keeper, the runner, and the
'smasher/ is now not only retained in safe custody in
compartments well adapted to that purpose, but is fre-
quently held as a pledge for the repayment of advances
made by the Commissioners to assist their owners to pro-
ceed on their intended journey. There is, however, no
charge made for its custody, neither is interest required to
be paid for the loan or advance. I have seen quantities of
boxes, trunks, and packages of various kinds, duly marked
and lettered, and safely stowed away, to be kept until the
owners found it convenient or necessary to send for their
effects, or, in case advances had been made on their
security, until they were in a position to redeem them.

This plan of making advances on the security of the bag-
gage, or portions of the baggage of the emigrant, which
protects it from being plundered, and enables the individual
or the family destined for the interior to proceed on their
route, has now been in practice fully ten years, and has
been attended with great good. The advance does not in
any case exceed a few dollars ; but the possession or the
want of these few dollars may, at such a moment, deter-
mine the future fate of an entire family. In their report
for 1865, the Commissioners bear testimony to the good
which these advances have done. Assistance has been ren-
dered to many who might otherwise have become the prey
of fraud, or have fallen into destitution, ' whilst,' as they
state, ' the character of the assistance was such as not to
lessen the feeling of independent self-reliance.' The small
amount of $112 was advanced in 1856 to nineteen fam-
ilies, or about $6| per family. This had been punctually
repaid. The total amount advanced from August 1856,
when the system was first adopted, to the end of 1865, was
$23,215 ; the number of advances, whether to individuals
or families, being 2,394. Of this amount, there remained
unpaid but 1,376.

A WORD OF ADVICE. 203

Another important department may be described as the
letter or correspondence department, the value of which
is becoming every year more fully appreciated, as well by
emigrants as by their friends in America and at home.
Suppose an emigrant, on arrival at New York, to be with-
out the means of proceeding inland, or disappointed in not
receiving a communication from a Mend or member of his
or her family, a letter, announcing the person's arrival, and
asking for assistance, is at once written by a clerk specially
appointed for that purpose ; and in very many cases the
appeal so made is promptly responded to, and the emigrant
is thus enabled to proceed onwards. In the year 1866,
there were nearly 3,000 such letters written, stamped, and
posted, free of all charge to the parties interested. Of these
letters 2,516 were written in English, the balance in Ger-
man and other languages. The value of this admirable
system may be shown by the fact, that the amount of
money received in 1866, in reply to letters from the Land-
ing Depot for recently arrived emigrants, and applied to
their forwarding, was $24,385.

It is of the utmost consequence that attention should
here be directed to what has been, and must ever be, a
source of bitter disappointment, if not of the greatest
affliction to individuals and families ; namely, the misdirec-
tion of letters, owing to the habit of not giving the full
address, or the custom common with Irish women of the
humbler class, of calling themselves by their maiden instead
of their married names. It would be an act of great
humanity on the part of those who are in a position to
advise the emigrant, or the friends of the emigrant, whether
at home or in America, to see that names are written
accurately, and that addresses, especially American, are
given fully — that is, that the city, county, or State, should
be mentioned ; and lastly, that the envelope, which bears
the post mark on it, should be retained as well as the
letter. An instance or two in point, and which I select

204 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

out of many, will exhibit the necessity of this advice being
attended to at both sides of the Atlantic.

Mary Sullivan has come to America in search of her
husband. Having some vague notion of his whereabouts,
letters are despatched to various persons in the direction
supposed to be indicated. No such person as Daniel Sul-
livan, 'who came to America four years ago,' is to be
found. Poor Mary Sullivan is in despair. But at length,
owing to some chance observation which drops from the
afflicted wife, it turns out that Sullivan was her maiden
name, and that her husband was Daniel M'Carthy, and not
Daniel Sullivan. Letters are again despatched, and Daniel
and Mary are once more united.

A woman arrives with her family. She has a letter
from her son in Washington, or Jacksonville, or Newtown,
and she desires to inform him that she is in New York,
awaiting him. There is his letter, and she can tell no
more about it ; all she knows is, that her son is in the place
mentioned ; and ' why shouldn't he be there, she'd like to
know?' But what Washington ? what Jacksonville? what
Newtown ? There are hundreds of places with similar
names in the United States ; and which is it ? Where, she
is asked, is the envelope of the letter ; for that would have
the post mark, which, if not obliterated or indistinct, would
be the best of all possible guides. ' Oh, sure/ the simple
woman replies, ' I lost that : but there was nothing on that
but where I lived when I was in Ireland ; sure 'tis all in my
son's letter.' The envelope lost, and there being no address
in the letter, the Commissioners have to communicate with
all the Washingtons, or Jacksonvilles, or Newtowns in the
country ; and probably it is owing to the enquiries of the
priest of the locality in which the son resides or is at work
that the family are ultimately brought together.

A young woman, Ellen T , arrived early in the

present year, to join her brother, who was in a certain
town in Pennsylvania, whence he wrote to her. She was
sent to Ward's Island, and her brother was written to. No

WORKING OF THE SYSTEM. 205

answer. Another letter was sent, but with the same result.
The sister is safe in the Refuge at Ward's Island, but
anxious and impatient. Time passes — still no tidings. At
length she abandons all hope of finding her brother, and
determines to do something for herself ; and actually as
she is leaving the office with this intention, the brother
makes his appearance. What was the cause of the delay ?
His explanation is simple enough — he had left the place
from which he had written to his sister and gone to ano-
ther place, and 'he hadn't the gumption' to leave his new
address with the postmaster.

Shortly before I left New York an instance occurred
which impressed me with the value of the present system,
under which such care is taken of the interests of the
emigrants. A young girl arrived out by a certain steamer,
and being taken sick of fever was sent to the hospital at
Ward's Island. She said her father was in Boston, but
she did not know his address. Her father, expecting her
arrival, telegraphed to the agents in New York, enquiring
if his daughter had come. The agents, whether ignorant
or careless, replied by telegraph — 'No.' The father, not
satisfied with the answer, wrote to the Commissioners of
Emigration, and they at once notified to him that his
daughter had arrived, and was then in hospital at Ward's
Island. He started from Boston without delay; and I
had the assurance of the admirable physician by whom
she was attended,* that the interview with her father saved
the daughter's life, which was at the time in danger.

Innumerable cases might be given in proof of the
inconvenience and suffering — oftentimes the gravest in-
jury— entailed on emigrants, especially young girls, through
this neglect of sending the address accurately and fully,
and retaining it when received; also of women giving
their maiden instead of their married name ; of not having

* Dr. John Dwyer, a true-hearted and kindly Irishman, who was one of the
military surgeons attached to Corcoran's Irish Legion.

206 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the name written distinctly, and of saying the name is
O'Reily when it is Biley, or Donnelly when it is O'Donnell.
.Mistakes, perhaps apparently trifling, are quite sufficient to
keep the nearest and dearest relatives apart, and deprive
the young and inexperienced girl of the much-needed
protection of a brother or a father.

The titles by which the General Superintendent is
addressed are very varied. At one time he is styled ' The
Mayor of Castle Garden,' at another ' The Commander,' at
another ' The Keeper,' and not unfrequently ' Head Gene-
ral ! ' The mistake of ' Blackbird's Island for ' BlackwelTs
Island, in which there is a penitentiary, is not altogether
inappropriate ; but that of mistaking a General officer for
a Police officer was much more serious, as witness the
following : —

Two country girls, recently arrived from ' Sweet Tippe-
rary/ with the painting of nature on their healthy cheeks,
received from one of the clerks a written card bearing the
address of their friends in the upper part of the city, and
were directed to apply for information on their way to the
first policeman they met ; and one of these blue-coated
brass-buttoned dignitaries, on duty at the Depot, was
pointed out to them for their guidance. 'Thank your
honour kindly, we'll be sure not to mistake the pelliceman
when we want him,' said the rosiest, who did all the talking.
It was at the early part of the war, when the streets were
full of blue Federal uniforms. The two country girls set
off rejoicing, but had not been gone many minutes when
they were back again, out of breath and greatly flurried.
'Well/ said the clerk, -'what brings you back?' 'Oh,
sure your honour, we did just as your honour tould us.
We went up the wide sthreet ye call Broadway, and when
we kem to the big church beyant, with the cross on it,
sure there we saw a gintleman with a blue coat and gould
buttons, and a cocked hat on his head, and a fine feather
in it, and a swoord by his side; and Mary and meself

INTELLIGENCE AND LABOUR DEPARTMENT. 207

thought he must be the head of all the Pellice. So we
made bould to tell that your honour tould us to ax him
which was the way to the third Avany cars, and sure he
tould us to " go to the Divil " — so we kem straight back
to your honour.' The clerk, who was a good judge of a
joke, looked steadily at the speaker ; but she seemed
utterly unconscious of having perpetrated a bon mot.

There is another department at Castle Garden, which
has proved of immense advantage to emigrants of both
sexes — an Intelligence Office and Labour Exchange. For-
tunately for the interests of those who desire to employ and
to be employed, this is becoming every day better known,
and consequently more generally availed of ; and through
its operation employment is obtained for all kinds of
labour, agricultural, manufacturing, and domestic. There
are two such offices in the building, one for men and the
other for women. A register, which I had the opportunity
of examining, is carefully kept, in which the names of
persons requiring employment, or wanting to employ
hands, are entered ; and in which, in case of hiring, all
necessary particulars are likewise set down. This register
is thus not only a means of affording useful information
respecting individuals to friends who seek intelligence of
them, but also of protection to the parties employed ; inas-
much as if the employer violates his contract — which is
embodied in his proposal — he may be sued on the part of
the Commissioners, to whom the emigrant is an object of
official care for five years after his or her landing at New
York. It frequently happens that, through the operation
of this bureau, persons are enabled to procure employment
on landing, and go off at once to those who hired them by
anticipation. But it must be understood that the chances
of employment are generally more in favour of females than
of males ; and that they are terribly against the latter,
if they come out at a wrong season — which is towards
the Autumn, and all through the Winter. The girl or

208 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

woman, assuming that she desires to work and is capable
of it, may come out at any season of the year, Winter or
Summer ; but the man who looks for out-door employ-
ment should come out when the Spring work is opening — cer-
tainly not sooner than March, or later than October. The
total number of males provided with employment last
year — 1866 — through the Intelligence Office and Labour
Exchange, Castle Garden, was 2,191 ; of females 6,303 ;
of both sexes, through the Commissioners' agents, at
Buffalo, Albany, and Rochester, 1,289 ; and at the office
of the German Society in New York, 988 — making in all,
10,771.

I saw a number of women and girls, generally young,
in a large apartment of the building, employed in knit-
ting or sewing, waiting to be hired for various purposes,
whether in factories, in stores, or in domestic occupations.

One of the latest improvements in the Emigration Depot
at Castle Garden is its direct connection by telegraph
with every part of the United States and the British Pro-
vinces ; so that an emigrant, on landing, may at once
communicate with expecting friends in any part of North
America.

Having referred to some of the most salient features of
the establishment at Castle Garden, I may briefly glance
at Ward's Island, which is the crowning feature of the
whole, combining everything necessary for the care and
comfort and protection of the stranger which enlightened
benevolence and practical experience could suggest, or the
most liberal expenditure could provide. When one remem-
bers the bed of broken straw, the rotten flour, the decayed
vegetables, the putrid meat, specially procured for the sick
emigrants of 1847 and 1848, by the shipbrokers of that
day, one may well invoke a blessing on the noble-hearted
men to whose humanity, courage, and perseverance the ex-
isting system is mainly due.

Removed, by its insular position, from all contact with

MISS NIGHTINGALE'S OPINION. 209

the city, its shores washed by the ever-moving tide of the
Sound, lies Ward's Island, 110 acres of which are now in
possession of the Commissioners, and devoted to the varied
purposes of the institution. The stranger is astonished at
beholding the splendid groups of buildings that, as it were,
crown the island — asylums, refugees, schools, hospitals ; the
latter for surgical, medical, and contagious cases. These
buildings were capable last year of accommodating more
than 1,500 persons, and they are added to according to
the means at the disposal of the Commission. On the 10th
of August, 1864, was laid the foundation stone of an hos-
pital with accommodation for 500 patients ; which hospital,
designed and furnished with all the latest improvements,
is admitted by competent judges — including Miss Night-
ingale*— to be one of the most complete in the world. I
visited this hospital in March, 1867, and though not
qualified to pronounce an opinion which would be of any

* Miss Nightingale addressed the following letter to the General Agent :—

' 32, South Street, Park Lane, London, w. :
April, 22, 65.

' SIK,— I have extreme pleasure in acknowledging your kind note of February 22,
and some copies of an account of your proceedings at the laying of the stone of your
new Emigrant Hospital.

' It will be an admirable building, and much better than any civil hospital of the
size in this country.

'It is a noble thing to do, to build such a building — not for your poor, but
ours.

' All to whom I have shown copies of your report feel, as deeply as I do, the im-
portance and nobleness of your work.

' I have distributed the copies you have been good enough to send me, to our
Government officials, to our Commissioners of Emigration, and to persons in au-
thority who would feel a deep interest in your work.

' When completed, you will have a magnificent example of sound hospital
construction, and one which certainly deserves to be followed elsewhere, and no
doubt will be.

'I wish that my health permitted me to acknowledge more worthily your
noble works, or to come over and see them, than which nothing would delight me
more.

•But I am overwhelmed with business — complete prisoner to my room from
illness, from which there is no recovery ; and I can only beg that you will believe
me, Sir,

' Your most faithful and grateful servant,

•FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.

'Bernard Casserly, Esq., General Agent Commissioner
of Emigration, N. Y.'

210 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

practical value, I cannot refrain from expressing the
admiration with which I beheld so noble an institution,
equal in every respect to the best I had seen in London,
Rome, Paris, or Vienna ; and, from its peculiar position, es-
pecially its entire isolation from other buildings, and being
erected on an island, more favourable to the treatment
and recovery of the patient than any hospital in a great
city. The Commissioners have been careful to provide an
unlimited supply of the pure Croton for the inmates of the
different establishments under their charge ; and to another
essential requisite of health — a thorough system of drainage
and sewerage — they have devoted considerable attention.
The result is a low rate of mortality in hospital and asylum,
among infants and adults ; which contrasts most favourably
with institutions of a similar nature, but not enjoying the
special advantages that distinguish those of Ward's Island,
The staff, surgical and medical, is equal to the necessity,
and consists of men eminent in their different branches of
the healing art.

It may be interesting to contrast the number of persons,
patients or, inmates, at Ward's Island on the 30th of June,
1867, with the number at the corresponding periods of the
three previous years. It proves two things — the increased
demand on the resources of the institution ; also the diffi-
.culty of procuring employment, arising not only from the
continued overcrowding of New York, but from the ina-
bility of these emigrants to push on to the West. The
total number of inmates in 1864, while the war was
raging, was 1,000. In 1865 it fell to 851. But since then
the number has been seriously added to. In 1866 it was
1,251, and on the 30th of June, 1867, it rose to 1,428.
The number of able-bodied working men on the island,
at a time when the best chances of employment are offered
to those inclined to work, is still more significant. In 1864
the number was 42 ; in 1865 it fell to 34 ; in 1856 it rose
to 100; and in 1867 it was as high as 123. The sick

NECESSITY FOR UNCEASING VIGILANCE. 211

average at least 600, the balance consisting of women and
children.

There may be other features of this unpaid Commission
to which I should have referred, inasmuch as it has afforded
to the whole country an example of what practical benevo-
lence and public spirit are capable of accomplishing ; but
other subjects of interest demand my attention. It is,
however, satisfactory to know that the active attention of
Congress and the Government of the United States has
been directed to the protection of foreign emigrants, and
that an efficient organisation may be expected in the most
important of the seaports. From the report of the Govern-
ment Commissioner of Emigration, presented to Congress
011 the 28th of February, 1866, one may learn how formida-
ble is the evil against which it is necessary to combat with
unabated energy, as well for the protection of the helpless
stranger, as for the interests and the honour of the great
country to which, from many motives and causes, he is
attracted. The Government Commissioner states that
upon entering upon the duties of his office he found him-
self in conflict with a host of persons who had been long
accustomed, in the various ports, to prey upon the immi-
grant. Companies, boards, and agencies, with sounding
titles and high professions, were ready to deceive and
plunder him at every turn, and it required prompt and
decisive action to meet this great and growing evil. Many
organisations, proper in themselves, but representing special
interests, were simply subserving their own plans and the
views of some single locality, regardless of the welfare of
the immigrant. He states that through the appointment
of a superintendent at New York, his bureau has been
enabled to break up many swindling agencies with their
runners, and protect thousands of emigrants; and he
adds : ' This work, however, never ceases. New schemes
of fraud spring up whenever occasion offers, and they re-
quire continued vigilance to suppress them/ The 'passenger

212 THE IRISH IN AMERICA

laws ' would appear, from this report, to be systematically
violated, indeed boldly set at defiance ; and more stringent
powers are demanded for their enforcement.*

It is satisfactory to perceive that, at least up to the time
of the publication of the report in question, the policy of
the Government Bureau of Emigration was to act in har-
mony with the unpaid Commission in New York ; and for
the interests of humanity I may venture to express an
earnest hope that no change, however apparently beneficial,
may have the effect — the fatal effect — of interfering with
the operation or impairing the efficiency of an organisa-
tion which has rendered inestimable services to the poor,
the feeble, the unprotected, and in a special degree to those
of the Irish race. The words of Florence Nightingale,
when acknowledging, in 1866, the annual Reports which
had been sent to her, may fittingly conclude this branch of
my subject : ' These Reports are most business-like. They
' testify to an amount of benevolent and successful efforts
'on behalf of the over-crowded old States of Europe of
' which America may well be proud.' f

* The Commissioner thus reports on this important point : —

'In order to ascertain such violations, it was found necessary to appoint two
officers, with the consent of the Secretary of State, whose duty it should be to
board every immigrant ship, and report to the superintendent whether the pro-
visions of the "passenger acts" had in each case been complied with. The
importance of this course will be felt when it is stated that the superintendent
reports to this bureau that of the ships which arrived at New York since the
existence of his office, there were none, which had not violated the provisions of the
Act of 1860, for the better protection of female passengers. One hundred and
eighteen complaints were brought before him, which he was directed to refer to
the United States' district attorney, under whose advice he dismissed _ such as he
was satisfied were caused by ignorance of the law, and where no injury had been
sustained by the immigrant. Even where the injury had been gross, the super-
intendent found a successful prosecution almost impossible under the condition of
the law and his own limited powers. Under the existing laws it is necessary that
the complainant institute a suit against the master, owner, or consignee of the
vessel, and for this few have the knowledge, ability, time, or means, and fewer
the courage. Besides, the immigrant cannot remain for the purposes of prosecu-
tion. The remedy for this seems to be in a change of the laws. '

t One of the most recent cases on record is the worst that has been for many
years brought to the notice of the public. It was of the ship ' Giuseppe Baccariel,'
which arrived in New York on July 20, 1867, from Antwerp, where she was
chartered by A. Straus & Co. The emigrants — 180 in number — were Germans
and German Swiss. Eighteen persons died on the passage, and two more imme-
diately after arrival. The emigrants complained to the Commissioners that they
were short of provisions; that the water was not drinkable, being kept in pdro*

THE LAST CASE ONE OF THE WORST. 213

leum casks; that there was neither tea nor sugar on board; and that the potatoes
were rotten. The Commissioners instituted an inquiry, which resulted in proving
the truth of all the charges; to which might be added another— that there was
neither a doctor nor a drug store on board! Had the ship been longer at sea, the
mortality would have been more terrible, as the survivors were pale and feeble,
worn and emaciated, and some suffering from diarrhoea and disorders of the
bowels. One little child was left as the sole representative of a family of five
who sailed from Antwerp in perfect health; the boy's father, brother, and sister
having died on board, and his mother in the hospital-ship soon after reaching
quarantine. One would suppose this paragraph, from the report of the gentleman
by whom the atrocious case was investigated on the part of the Commissioners, had
been written twenty years before : —

' Second — The water. I found it in large sperm oil casks, the oil swimming on
the surface. I tried to taste a glass, but the smell was so offensive that I could
not overcome my disgust. Captain True (referred to above), however, says he
drank a half tumbler of the water, with the object of testing it, and he was shortly
afterwards taken with a severe diarrhrea. John Bertram, a passenger from Ahr-
buch, Rhenish Prussia, says, under oath, that his dying child asked for some
water, and that -the cook gave him some, but that it was so bad it had to be
boiled, in order to make it drinkable, and that deponent had to pay five francs to
the cook for attending to him and his family Third — The bread. Captain True
says that the bread was the worst he ever saw — mouldy and disgusting, and that
from one piece an entire beau was taken. I examined the biscuit, of which I
tasted a piece; it was of the worst quality — sandy, burned, and hardly digestible —
even its appearance was loathsome.'

Among other proceedings of the Commissioners was the adoption of a reso-
lution, proposed by the Hon. Richard O'Gorman — one of those Irishmen who is
a credit and an honour to his country, — referring the case to the urgent attention of
the Government,

Mr. O'Gorman is one of the ex-officio members of the Commission. The
others are the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, and the President of the
German Society.

Mr. O'Gorman is the President of the Irish Emigrant Society of New York— an
admirable institution; but one which might be rendered still more useful, not
only in diffusing information valuable to the emigrant, but in imparting a hea'thful
impetus to ifie occupation of the land by the agricultural class of Irish "migrants.

214 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEK XI.

Evil of remaining in the great Cities — Why the City attracts the
new Comer — Consequence of Overcrowding — The Tenement
Houses of New York — Important Official Reports— Glimpses of
the Reality — An inviting Picture — Misery and Slavery combined
— Inducements to Intemperance — Massacre of the Innocents — In
the wrong Place — Town and Country.

IRELAND, whence a great tide of human life has been
pouring across the Atlantic for more than half a century,
is rightly described as ' an agricultural country ; ' by which
is meant that the far larger portion of its population are
devoted to the cultivation of the soil. In no country have
the peasantry exhibited a stronger or more passionate
attachment to the land than in that country from which
such myriads have gone and are stih1 going forth. And
yet the strange fact, indeed the serious evil, is, that, not-
withstanding the vast majority of those who emigrate from
Ireland to America have been exclusively engaged in the
cultivation of the soil — as farmers, farm-servants, or out-
door labourers — so many of this class remain in cities and
towns, for wrhich they are not best suited ; rather than go
to the country, for which they are specially suited, and
where they would be certain to secure for themselves and
their families, not merely a home, but comfort and inde-
pendence. I deliberately assert that it is not within the
power of language to describe adequately, much less ex-
aggerate, the evil consequences of this unhappy tendency
of the Irish to congregate in the large towns of America.
But why they have hitherto done so may be accounted for
without much difficulty.

WHY THE CITY ATTRACTS THE NEW COMER. 215

Irish emigrants of the peasant and labouring class were
generally poor, and after defraying their first expenses on
landing had little left to enable them to push their way into
the country in search of such employment as was best suited
to their knowledge and capacity : though had they known
what was in store for too many of them and their children,
they would have endured the severest privation and braved
any hardship, in order to free themselves from the fatal
spell in which the fascination of a city life has meshed the
souls of so many of their race. Either they brought little
money with them, and were therefore unable to go on ; or
that little was plundered from them by those whose trade
it was to prey upon the inexperience or credulity of the
new-comer. Therefore, to them, the poor or the plundered
Irish emigrants, the first and pressing necessity was em-
ployment ; and so splendid seemed the result of that em-
ployment, even the rudest and most laborious kind, as com-
pared with what they were able to earn in the old country,
that it at once predisposed them in favour of a city life.
The glittering silver dollar, how bright it looked, and how
heavy it weighed, when contrasted with the miserable six-
pence, the scanty ' tenpenny-bit,' or the occasional shilling,
fat home ! Then there were old friends and former com-
panions or acquaintances to be met with at every street-
corner ; and there was news to give, and news to receive —
too often, perhaps, in the liquor-store or dram-shop kept
by a countryman — probably 'a neighbour's child/ or 'a
decent boy from the next ploughland.' Then 'the chapel
was handy,' and 'a Christian wouldn't be overtaken for
want of a priest ;' then there was 'the schooling conve-
nient for the children, poor things,' — so the glorious chance
was lost ; and the simple, innocent countryman, to whom
the trees of the virgin forest were nodding their branches
in friendly invitation, and the blooming prairie expanded
its fruitful bosom in vain, became the denizen of a city,
for which he was unqualified by training, by habit, and by

216 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

association. Possibly it was the mother's courage that
failed her as she glanced at the flock of little ones who
clustered around her, or timidly clung to her skirts, and she
thought of the new dangers and further perils that awaited
them ; and it was her maternal influence that was flung
into the trembling balance against the country and in
favour of the city. Or employment was readily found for
one of the girls, or one or two of the boys, and things
looked so hopeful in the fine place that all thoughts of the
fresh, breezy, healthful plain or hill-side were shut out at
that supreme moment of the emigrant's destiny ; though
many a time after did he and they long for one breath of
pure air, as they languished in the stifling heat of a summer
in a tenement house. Or the pioneer of the family — most
likely a young girl — had found good employment, and,
with the fruits of her honest toil, had gradually brought
out brothers and sisters, father and mother, for whose
companionship her heart ever yearned ; and possibly her
affection was stronger than her prudence, or she knew
nothing of the West and its limitless resources. Or sick-
ness, that had followed the emigrant's family across the
ocean, fastened upon some member of the group as they
touched the soil for which they had so ardently prayed;,
and though the fever or the cholera did not destroy a
precious life, it did the almost as precious opportunity of
a better future! the spring of that energy which Was suffi-
cient to break asunder the ties and habits of previous years
— sufficient for flight from home and country — was broken ;
and those who faced America in high hope were thence-
forth added to the teeming population of a city — to which
class, it might be painful to speculate.

It is easy enough to explain why and how those who
should not have remained in the great cities did so ; but it
is not so easy to depict the evils which have flowed, which
daily flow, which, unhappily for the race, must continue to
and from the pernicious tendency of the Irish peasant to

CONSEQUENCE OF OVERCROWDING. 217

adopt a mode of livelihood for which he is not suited by
previous knowledge or training, and to place himself in a
position dangerous to his morals, if not fatal to his inde-
pendence. These evils may be indicated, though they
cannot be adequately described.

This headlong rushing into the great cities has the
necessary effect of unduly adding to their population,
thereby overtaxing their resources, however large or even
extraordinary these resources may be, and of rudely dis-
turbing the balance of supply and demand. The hands — the
men, women, and children — thus become too many for the
work to be done, as the work becomes too little for the
hands willing and able to do it. What is worse, there are
too many mouths for the bread of independence ; and
thus the bread of charity has to supplement the bread
which is purchased with the sweat of the brow. Happy
would it be for the poor in the towns of America, as else-
where, if the bread, of charity were the only bread with
which the bread of independence is supplemented. But
there is also the bread of degradation, and the bread
of crime. And when the moral principle is blunted by
abject misery, or weakened by disappointments and pri-
vation, there is but a narrow barrier between poverty and
crime ; and this, too frequently, is soon passed. For such
labour as is thus recklessly poured into the great towns
there is constant peril. It is true, there are seasons when
there is a glut of work, when the demand exceeds the
supply — when some gigantic industry or some sudden ne-
cessity clamours for additional hands ; but there are also,
and more frequently, seasons when work is slack, seasons
of little employment, seasons of utter paralysis and stagna-
tion. Cities are liable to occasional depressions of trade,
resulting from over production, or the successful rivalry of
foreign nations, or even portions of the same country ; or
there are smashings of banks, and commercial panics,
periods of general mistrust. Or, owing to the intense

10

218 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

severity of certain seasons, there is a total cessation of
employments of particular kinds, by which vast numbers of
people are flung idle on the streets. If at once employed
and provident, the condition of the working population
in the towns is happy enough ; but if there be no provi-
dence while there is employment, one may imagine how
it fares with the family who are destitute alike of em-
ployment and the will or capacity for husbanding its fruits.
It is hard enough for the honest thrifty working man to
hold his own in the great towns of America, for rents are
high, and living is dear, and the cost of clothes and other
necessaries is enormous ; but when the work fails, or stops,
terrible indeed is his position. Then does the Irish peasant
realise the fatal blunder he has made, in having chosen
the town, with all its risks, and dangers, and sad uncer-
tainties, instead of having gone into the country, no matter
where, and adopted the industry for which he was best
suited. Possibly, the fault was not his, of having selected
the wrong place for his great venture in life ; but whether
his adoption of the town in preference to the country were
voluntary, or the result of circumstance, the evil is done,
and he and his family must reap the consequences, what-
ever these may be.

The evil of overcrowding is magnified to a prodigious
extent in New York, which, being the port of arrival —
the Gate of the New World — receives a certain addition
to its population from almost every ship-load of emigrants
that passes through Castle Garden. There is scarcely any
city in the world possessing greater resources than New
York, but these resources have long since been strained
to the very uttermost to meet the yearly increasing
demands created by this continuous accession to its in-
habitants; and if there be not some check put to this
undue increase of the population, for which even the
available space is altogether inadequate, it is difficult to
think what the consequences must be. Every succeeding

THE TENEMENT HOUSES OF NEW YORK. 219

year tends to aggravate the existing evils, which, while
rendering the necessity for a remedy more urgent, also
render its nature and its application more difficult.

As in all cities growing in wealth and in population,
the dwelling accommodation of the poor is yearly sacrificed
to the increasing necessities or luxury of the rich. While
spacious streets and grand mansions are on the increase,
the portions of the city in which the working classes once
found an economical residence, are being steadily en-
croached upon — just as the artisan and labouring popula-
tion of the City of London are driven from their homes by
the inexorable march of city improvements, and streets and
courts and alleys are swallowed up by a great thoroughfare
or a gigantic railway terminus. There is some resource
in London, as the working class may move to some por-
tion of the vast Metropolitan district, though not without
serious inconvenience ; but unless the fast increasing mul-
titudes that seem determined to settle in New York, adopt
the Chinese mode of supplementing the space on shore by
habitation in boat and raft on water, they must be content
to dwell in unwholesome and noisome cellars, or crowd in
the small and costly rooms into which the tenement houses
are divided.

As stated on official authority, there are 16,000 tene-
ment houses in New York, and in these there dwell more
than half a million of people ! This astounding fact is
of itself so suggestive of misery and evil, that it scarcely
requires to be enlarged upon ; but some details will best
exhibit the mischievous consequences of overcrowding —
not by the class who, at home in Ireland, have lived in
cities, and been accustomed to city-life and city pursuits ;
but by a class the majority of whom rarely if ever entered
a city in the old country until they were on their way to
the port of embarkation — by those whose right place in
America is the country, and whose natural pursuit is the
cultivation of the land. Let the reader glance at the

220 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

tenement houses — those houses and ' cellars ' in which the
working masses of New York swarm — those delightful
abodes for which so many of the hardy peasantry of Ire-
land madly surrender the roomy log-cabin of the clearing,
and the frame house of a few years after, together with
almost certain independence and prosperity. I have
entered several of these . tenement houses, in company
with one to whom their inmates were well known ; I have
spoken to the tenants of the different flats, and have
minutely examined everything that could enlighten me as
to their real condition ; but I deem it well to rely rather
on official statements, which are based on the most ac-
curate knowledge, and are above the suspicion of exag-
geration.

The Commissioners of the Metropolitan Board of Health,
in their report for 1866, say: —

' The first, and at all times the most prolific cause of disease, was
found to be the insalubrious condition of most of the tenement houses
in the cities of New York and Brooklyn. These houses are generally
built without any reference to the health or comfort of the occupant,
but simply with a view to economy and profit to the owner. The
provision for ventilation and tight is very insufiflcient, and the
arrangement of water-closets or privies could hardly be worse if
actually intended to produce disease. These houses were almost in-
variably crowded, and ill-ventilated to such a degree as to render
the air within them continually impure and offensive. . . . The
basements were often entirely below ground, the ceiling being a foot or
two below the level of the street, and was necessarily far more damp,
dark, and ill-ventilated than the remainder of the house. The cel-
lars, when unoccupied, were frequently flooded to the depth of several
inches with stagnant water, and were made the receptacles of garbage,
and refuse matter of every description. ... In many cases, the
cellars were constantly occupied, and sometimes used as lodging-houses,
where there was no ventilation save by the entrance, and in which the
occupants were entirely dependent upon artificial light by day as
well as by night. Such was the character of a vast number of the
tenement houses in the lower parts of the city of New York, and
along its eastern and western borders. Disease, especially in the form
of fevers of a typhoid character, was constantly present in these dwel-

IMPORTANT OFFICIAL REPORTS. 221

lings, and every now and then became in more than one of them epi-
demic. It was found that in one of these twenty cases of typhus had
occurred during the previous year.

The poor Irishman in New York is not without ex-
periencing the tender mercies of 'middlemen/ to whom
in many instances the tenement houses are leased. These
middlemen are generally irresponsible parties, with no
interest in the property except its immediate profits, and
who destroyed the Qriginal ventilation, such as it was, by the
simple process of dividing the rooms into smaller ones, and
by crowding three or four families into a space originally
intended for a single family.

In 1864, the Citizens' Association of New York was or-
ganised, its main object being the promotion of Sanitary
Reform. It has already effected much service through the
information it has afforded in its valuable publications,
which exhibit in a striking manner the enormous evil of
overcrowding, and its consequences - to the morals and
health of the community. Associated with this organisa-
tion are many eminent physicians, who constitute the
Council of Hygiene,, whose report forms one of the most
important features of the volume. Having divided the
city into districts for the purpose of inspection, the
Council appointed competent medical officers for that
task ; and from the detailed reports of these inspectors an
accurate notion may be obtained of the sanitary condition
of each district.

That the overcrowding of New York is far in excess of
all other cities, may be shown by a comparison of that
city with London. In the English metropolis, the highest
rate of population to the square mile is in East London,
where, according to the report of a recent Royal Commis-
sion, it reached as high as 175,816. Whereas in certain
portions of the Fourth Ward of New York, the tenant-house
population were in 1864 'packed at the rate of about 290,000
inhabitants to the square mile.' Nor is it at all probable

222 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

that things have come to the worst in this respect. The
Council of Hygiene, in their report, take rather a despond-
ing view of the future. Not only has New York already be-
come one of the most populous and densely crowded cities
in the world, c but it is plainly its destiny to become at once
the most populous and the most overcrowded of the great
maritime cities.' The evils, therefore, which now imperil
health and morals in consequence of overcrowding, will
increase with the increase of the population.

That there are several tenement houses constructed with
a due regard for their intended object — the comfort and
accommodation of their inmates — is true ; but such houses
are rather the exception than the rule, and the rent de-
manded for cleanly and commodious apartments in a tene-
ment provided with the requisite appliances, places them
beyond the means of the mass of the working population.
It is not with houses of this class, but of the kind which
are occupied by the poorer portion of the community, in-
cluding of necessity those who have made the fatal mistake
of stopping in New York, instead of pushing on to the
country and occupying the land, that I propose to deal. A
few extracts, taken at random from some of the reports,
will place the reader sufficiently in possession of the evils
of overcrowding, and the perils, alike to soul and body, of
the tenement system, which is now, though late, arousing
the alarmed attention of statesmen and philanthropists.

Dr. Monnell, to whom the inspection of the 'First
Sanitary District' was entrusted, states that the inhabi-
tants of this district, which comprises part of the First and
the whole of the Third "Ward, are largely of foreign birth
— about one-half Irish, one-quarter Germans, and the re-
mainder Americans, Swedes, Danes, &c. Two-thirds of
the resident population consist of labourers and mechanics
with their families. The general characteristics are, 'a
medium grade of intelligence and a commendable amount
of industry, intermixed largely with ignorance, depravity,

GLIMPSES OF THE REALITY. 223

pauperism, and dissipation of the most abandoned charac-
ter.' As an illustration of the evil of over-crowding, and
the perilous characteristics of a large class of the floating
population — consisting in this district of 'travellers, emi-
grants, sailors, and vagabonds without a habitation and
almost without a name ' — that, mingle with the more per-
manent residents of this lower district of the city, Dr.
Monnell thus makes the reader acquainted with a certain
squalid old tenant-house in Washington Street : —

'Passing from apartment to apartment, until we reached the upper
garret, we found every place crowded with occupants, one room, only
5J by 9 feet, and a low ceiling, containing two adults, and a daughter
of twelve years, and the father working as a shoemaker in the room,
while in the upper garret were found a couple of dark rooms kept by
haggard crones, who nightly supplied lodgings to twenty or thirty
vagabonds and homeless persons. This wretched hiding-place of men,
women, and girls, who in such places become daily more vicious and
more wretched, had long been a hot-bed of typhus, seven of the
lodgers having been sent to the fever hospital, while permanent resi-
dents on the lower floors had become infected with the same malady
and died.'

In the construction of many modern tenant-houses, it
would appear, the Inspector states, ' that hygienic laws and
sanitary requirements have been estimated as of only se-
condary importance, the great problem being how to
domicile the greatest number of families on a given area.
And in the practical solution of that problem, in this
district, lies the great overshadowing cause of insalubrity,
before which all others combined sink into insignificance.
The most marked feature of the tenant-houses is the small
size of their apartments, whereby ensues overcrowding
in each family.' Having described a group of tenement-
houses which are represented by the aid of photography,
and designated as ca perpetual fever nest/ the report thus
proceeds : —

224 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

'And in addition, the street throughout this whole neighbourhood,
presents habitually the vilest condition of filth, and reeks with most
offensive odours. Typhus fever and measles were very prevalent
here in the early part of the summer. In my weekly reports of
"pestilential diseases and insalubrious quarters," I have had frequent
occasion to describe the condition of families and disease in the
premises that are here photographed. The beautiful work of the artist
renders unnecessary any further description of these squalid and pesti-
ferous tenements, and their noisome fronting of dilapidated and
overflowing privies, and a dismal, narrow, flooded court. That erup-
tive fevers, typhus, and physical decay may always be seen here is cer-
tainly not surprising.'

The worst effects upon the inmates of the poorest class
of tenant-houses are exhibited not so much in the more
acute form of disease, as cin the pale and sickly counten-
ance of their occupants, with lax fibre and general absence
of robust health ; we see it also in the pining and wasting
of infants, and in the general prevalence of strumous, oph-
thalmic, and eruptive disorders. All these appearances
indicate unmistakably the want of those great indispensible
necessities of health — pure air and light.'

Let us follow Dr. Pulling, the ' Inspector of the Fourth
Sanitary District,' in his visits of inspection, and, without
straining probability, assume that the miserable picture so
graphically drawn is that of an Irish family, the victims
of the one great and fatal mistake of the husband and the
father — that of having remained in New York, instead of
carrying his strength and his industry to the place where
they were most required, and were sure to be appreciated :

' Through a narrow alley we enter a small courtyard which the lofty
buildings in front keep in almost perpetual shade. Entering it from
the street on a sunny day, the atmosphere seems like that of a well.
The yard is filled with recently-washed clothing suspended to dry.
In the centre of this space are the closets used by the population of both
front and rear houses. Their presence is quite as perceptible to the
smell as to the sight.

• Making our way through this enclosure, and descending four or
five steps, we find ourselves in the basement of the rear-building.
We enter a room whose ceiling is blackened with smoke, and its walls

AN INVITING PICTURE. 225

discoloured with damp. In front, opening on a narrow area covered
with green mould, two small windows, their tops scarcely level with the
courtyard, aftbrd at noonday a twilight illumination to the apartment.
Through their broken frames they admit a damp air laden with effluvia
which constitutes the vital atmosphere imbibed by all who are immured
in this dismal abode.

' A door at the back of this room communicates with another which
is entirely dark, and has but one opening. Both rooms together have
an area of about 18 feet square, and these apartments are the home of
six persons. The father of the family, a day labourer, is absent ; the
mother, a wrinkled crone at thirty, sits rocking in her arms an infant,
whose pasty and pallid features tell that decay and death are usurping
the place of health and life, Two older children are in the street,
which is their only playground, and the only place where they can go
to breathe an atmosphere that is even comparatively pure. A fourth
child, emaciated to a skeleton, and with that ghastly and unearthly
look which marasmus impresses on its victims, has reared its feeble
frame on a rickety chair against the window sill, and is striving to get a
glimpse at the smiling heavens whose light is so seldom permitted to
gladden its longing eyes. Its youth has battled nobly against the
terribly morbid and devitalizing agents which have depressed its
childish life — the poisonous air, the darkness, and the damp ; but
the battle is nearly over, it is easy to decide where the victory will be.'

The cellar tenements of this district are fearful abodes
for human beings. They were occupied, in 1864, in 1,400
persons, and their floors ranged from ten to thirty feet
below high water mark ! ' In the sub-tidal basements nine-
teen families, or 110 persons, live beneath the level of the
sea.' 'In very many cases the vaults of privies are situ-
ated on the same or a higher level, and their contents
frequently ooze through walls into the occupied apart-
ments beside them. Fully one-fourth of these subterra-
nean domiciles are pervaded by a most offensive odour
from this source, and rendered exceedingly unwholesome as
human habitations. These are the places in which we most-
frequently meet with typhoid fever and dysentery during
the summer months.'

Matters are not much better in 'the Sixth Inspection
District,' where the tenement population is about 23,000.

226 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

In some of the cellars and basements water trickled down
the walls, the source of which was traced to the foulest
soakage. One cannot be surprised to learn that the nox-
ious effluvia always present in these basements are of a
sickening character. Many of these cellars are occupied
by two or three families ; a number are also occupied as
lodging-houses, accommodating from twenty to thirty lodg-
ers ! What an abode for those who, leaving home and
country, crossed the ocean in the hope of bettering their
condition !

The Inspector of the Eleventh District — Dr. Brown —
states that nearly one-fifth of all the tenements are rear
buildings, some of them of the lowest grade. They are
generally contracted in size, shut out from the sunlight,
and commonly are obstructions to light and ventilation in
the front buildings. The interval between the front and
rear house is frequently so small, and sometimes so com-
pletely enclosed on all sides by the adjacent houses ' as to
constitute a mere well-hole.' Referring to certain houses
in Hammond and Washington Streets, the Inspector des-
cribes their inhabited cellars, the ceilings of which are be-
low the level of the street, 'inaccessible to the rays of the
sun, and always damp and dismal. Three of them are
flooded at every rain, and require to be bailed out. They
are let at a somewhat smaller rent than is asked for apart-
ments on the upper floor, and are rented by those to whom
poverty leaves no choice. They are rarely vacant.'

Under the heading ' Rents,' we find the Inspector of the
Fourth Sanitary District stating that 'in regular tenant
houses the rent of each domicile (generally consisting of
two rooms — a 'living room ' and a bedroom) at present
averages $9 per month, or $108 the year.' The cellar, is,
we are informed, ' let at a somewhat lower rate ' than the
average mentioned.

From the report of Dr. Furman, the Inspector of the
Seventeenth Sanitary District, the following passage is ex-
tracted : —

MISERY AND SLAVERY COMBINED. 227

'Most of the larger tenant-bouses are in a state of muckiness, and,
as a rule, overcrowded, without ventilation or light. These are
offensive enough (and incapable to preserve a normal standard of
health) ; but the crowded rear tenant-houses, completely cut off from
ventilation and perhaps light, are still worse. They abound in dark,
damp, and noisome basements and cellars, converted into sleeping
apartments. In these the invigorating and health-preserving sun-light
and fresh air are never accessible.'

An illustration is given of one of these habitations, the
'living rooms' of which are nearly dark, and the dormi-
tories ' dark and damp.' The report thus continues : —

' Here we have low, damp, dark, and unventilated bed-rooms, whose
inmates respire a murky air, and consort with snails, spiders, and muck-
worms. These underground habitations are most pernicious in laying
the foundation for and developing strumous ophthalmia, hip-joint,
and certain diseases of the spine, diseases of the respiratory organs
(the chief of which is consumption), rheumatism, which in turn pro-
duces organic disease of the heart.'

The picture would not be perfect without the follow-
ing :—

'They — the houses — as in many -instances owned by large capitalists
by whom they are farmed out to a class of factors, who make this
their especial business. These men pay to the owner of the property
a sum which is considered a fair return on the capital invested, and
rely for their profits (which are often enormous) on the additional
amount which they can extort from the wretched tenants whose house
frequently becomes untenantable for want of repairs, which the " agent "
deems it his interest to withhold. These men contrive to absorb most
of the scanty surplus which remains to the tenants after paying for
their miserable food, shelter, and raiment. They are, in many in-
stances, proprietors of low groceries, liquor stores, and "policy shops "
connected with such premises, — the same individual often being the
actual owner of a large number. Many of the wretched population are
held by these men in a state of abject dependence and vassalage little short
of actual slavery.

And this is in the greatest city of the Great Republic of
the New "World ! The poor Irishman who leaves his own
country to escape from the tyranny of the most grinding
landlord, and becomes the slavish vassal of one of these
blood-suckers, makes but a poor exchange. The ' improve-

228 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ment ' in his condition might be fittingly indicated by the
homely adage, — ' from the frying-pan into the fire.' The
rudest hut in the midst of a forest, the loneliest cabin on
the prairie, would be a palace to one of these abodes.
Health, energy, independence, self-respect — the hopeful
family growing up as strong as young lions, and fleet as
antelopes — plenty for all, and a hearty welcome for the
stranger and the wayfarer, — this is the country. What a
contrast is it to the squalor, the debasement, and the sla-
very of the town — as described by a competent authority.

How intemperance, the author of so many ills to man-
kind, and in a special degree to those who live by their
labour, has its origin in these abodes of misery, to which
the working population are condemned through poverty
and the want of cheap and healthful homes, is thus ac-
counted for by the Commissioners of Health : —

'This we know from observation, and from the testimony of dis-
pensary physicians and other visitors among the poor, that the crowded,
dark, and unventilated homes of the classes from which pauperism
springs are driven to habits of tippling by the combined influences of
the vital depression and^demoralising surroundings of their unhealthy
habitations. Pertinent was the reply of a drunken mother, in a dismal
rear-court, to a sanitary officer, who asked her why she drank: "If you
lived in this place, you would ask for whisky instead of milk." '

Dr. Burrall, Inspector for the Twelfth District, touches
in his report on the same point : —

'It may be that the depressing causes existing in such a neighbour-
hood prompt to the use of some u oblivious antidote," by which for a
time the rough edges of life may be smoothed over. It may be, too,
that these stimulants excite a certain degree of prophylactic influence,
but the quality of liquor obtained in such places is injurious to the
digestive organs, the brain becomes unduly excited, and quarrelling
or even murder results.'

Dr. Field, Inspector for the Eighteenth District, enters
fully into the demoralising influences and results produced
by the low class of tenements on those who inhabit them : —

INDUCEMENTS TO INTEMPERANCE. 229

' Moreover, it is an accepted fact that to live for a long time deprived
of pure air and sunlight, will not only depress a man physically and
mentally, but will actually demoralise him. The atmosphere is precisely
adapted, through its properties and constituents to the wants of the
beings designed to breathe it.

'A man gradually loses ambition and hope ; concern for the welfare of
'his family, by slow degrees, loses its hold upon him. Loss of physical
vigour attends this corresponding condition of the mind, until at length
lassitude and depression of spirits and constant ennui get such control
over him that no power or effort of the will can shake them off. With
this decline of energy and vigour, both of mind and body, is set up an
instinctive yearning for something which will give a temporary respite to
the dragging weariness of life. Hence we find the children even, who are
brought up without the stimulating influence of pure air and sunlight,
will learn to cry for tea and coffee before they learn to talk ; and they
will refuse the draught unless it be strong. One would hardly credit
unless he has visited considerably among the tenant-house population,
how general this habit is among the youngest children. As they grow
older, they acquire the appetite of their parents for alcoholic stimulants / and
we need not go further to account for any extreme of immorality and
want/

Nor are abundant opportunities wanting for the indul-
gence of this fatal passion. Of the twenty-nine Inspectors
who report on the sanitary condition of New York, there
is not one who does not deplore the existence of the lowest
class of ' groggeries ' in the midst of the very poorest dis-
trict. One statement as to this fact will suffice. Dr.
Oscar G. Smith, reporting on the Ninth District, says —
' The number of dram-shops to be met in those localities
where a tenant-house class reside, is surprising/ Dr. Ed-
ward "W. Derby, in his report on the Fourteenth District,
gives a painful picture of the prevalence of this unhappy
vice : —

' The low groggeries and groceries, in all of which liquors are sold,
are constantly thronged. I am sorry to say, with members of both
sexes, youth and old age vicing with each other as to their capabilities
of drinking, enriching the proprietors of these places, spending their
last penny in gratifying their morbidly-debased appetite, rather than
purchasing the necessaries of life for their families, and then issuing

230 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

forth or being thrust out upon the streets in various stages of intoxica-
tion, half crazed with the vile and poisonous liquor they have swallowed,
fit subjects for the committing of the many crimes which are daily chroni-
cled in our papers. Such are the places which stare you in the face at
every step, a disgrace to the city, and a prolific source of corruption to
the morals of the surrounding inhabitants.'

' Poison,' 'vile poison,' 'noxious and deleterious com-
pounds,' are the terms generally applied to the description
of liquor for which so many sacrifice their means, their
health, and the happiness of their families.

With such a state of things — affecting at least a very
large portion of the tenement population of New York —
it cannot be a matter of surprise that the destruction of
infant life in that city is something prodigious. The
total number of deaths ' in the first year of life,' for the
nine months ending the 30th of September, 1866, was
6,258 ! This is a Massacre of the Innocents with a ven-
geance. The Commissioners of the Board of Health
remark : —

' The rate of mortality in children under five years of age in New
York is greater than in any city with which this Board has corres-
pondence, and the cause of this excess will best be sought in the
miserable housing and habits of the labouring classes, and in the
multiplied sources of foul air in our two cities. . . . From various
data now in hand, the conclusion is warranted, that death has in each
of the past two years taken nearly one-third of the total number before
the first biriMayS

Dr. Derby takes rather a philosophical view of this
tremendous death rate, and is inclined to regard it as a pro-
vidential counterpoise to the fecundity of the poor, which,
he states, has long been a matter of remark. He adds : —

' The number of diseases which menace and destroy infantile existence
seems almost a providential interference to prevent an excess of popula-
tion over and above that which the means of the parents could possibly
support. Nor, when we reflect upon the condition in which these unfor-
tunate children are found to exist, and the many circumstances, moral
and hygienic, by which they are surrounded, do we wonder less at the
amount of sickness and mortality among them, than that it is not great-
er ; less that they die than they survive.'

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. 231

Dr. Monnell thus concludes his remarks on the destruc-
tion of life caused by the miserable dwellings of his dis-
trict : —

'In the deadly atmosphere of some low basement, or close un-
ventilated bedroom, or in the wretched squalor of some dilapidated
garret, those little ones so numerously born amongst this class first
draw their breath, and in an atmosphere surcharged with poison they
battle for life ; but in the unequal strife very few survive, and thus are
yearly sacrificed whole hecatombs of living souls. They fall victims not
of necessity, nor of the decrees of inevitable Fate, but of ignorance
and avarice, and are lost to parents and friends, to society, and to
usefulness in the world.7

These poor immature blossoms, that perish so miserably
in the foul air of an overcrowded city, how they would
have thriven in the pure atmosphere of the country !
where the young cheek, 'pasty and pallid' in damp and
dismal cellar, or the fusty sleeping-hole of the tenement
house, would bloom with health, and the eye, so dull and
languid in the haunts of misery or vice, would sparkle
into life and hope. In the country, throughout America,
children are, next to his own industry and health, the best
capital of the parent. What they are under the circum-
stances described in the passages just quoted, the reader
may easily imagine.

My own previously formed convictions, which for years
had been strong in favour of the Irish selecting the right
place for their special industry, were, if possible, confirmed
by a visit to tenement houses of different classes. I re-
member one in particular, occupied principally by Irish.
It presented none of the revolting features common to
the dens already described. There was no squalor, no
dilapidation ; the place appeared to be in fair order. But
the tenants were not the class of people who should have
remained in New York. In Ireland they belonged to the
rural population ; and when I lifted the latch and entered
an apartment, it was just as if I had walked some miles
into the country at home, and entered the cabin of the

232 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

labourer, or the cottage of the farmer ; for in the accent and
manner of the inmates there was no difference whatever.
They were all racy of the soil. You could not visit any
house inhabited by a number of Irish in which instances
of the beautiful charity by which the race are distinguished
would not be displayed. Here, for instance, was a great
strong fellow, not long from the old country, and not able
to get work, listlessly leaning against the door-post of a
lower apartment, the tenants of which had given 'the poor
boy' a hearty welcome, and a 'shake-down,' and 'a bit
and sup ; ' though they themselves had a hard struggle to
keep want from their humble hearth. There was in
another room a mother, with her own young brood, yet
who found a corner in her woman's heart for the orphan
child of a neighbour that died some months before.

In one of the upper ' domiciles ' there were then six
persons, a mother, four young children, and a female
relative, who was engaged in washing. The husband, the
seventh inmate, a labouring man, was out at work. The
principal apartment measured about 9 feet by 12 ; the
dimensions of the other, the bedroom, allowing little more
than the space occupied by a fair-sized four-post bedstead.
A stove, necessary for the season, occupied no small
portion of the chief apartment. There was no actual want
of essential articles of furniture, such as a table and
chairs ; and the walls were not without one or two pious
and patriotic pictures, Catholic and Irish. The children
were tolerably clean, but pale and sickly ; and a poor
little fellow, of wonderfully bright countenance, hopped
about on one leg, from an injury which, owing to neglect,
was likely to cripple him for life. For this house accom-
modation, for this confined space, in which seven human
beings were pent up for so many hours together, there was
paid $7 a month, or $84 a year. "Work or no work — and
it was not unfrequently the latter — this rent should of
necessity be met. In English money, even at the present

IN THE WROXG PLACE. 233

rate of 3s. 3d. the dollar in 'greenbacks,' a year's rent
would come to '13/. 13s.; as much as would enable the
tenant of these apartments to purchase the fee-simple of
more than 50 acres of good land in. a Western State.
The mother of the children was quiet, well-mannered, and
respectable in appearance ; and though the freshness had
long since faded from her face, she retained the traces of
a kind of grave and pensive beauty. She was the daughter
of a decent farmer in West Carbery, county Cork, and her
husband, now a day labourer in New York, had also held
some land in the same locality. They had come to
America ' to better themselves/ — ' to be more independent
than they were at home ; ' and here they were, stuffed into
a little room in a tenement-house, with four young helpless
children depending on them for support, their only means
consisting of the earnings of the father of the family —
about $9 a week ; out of which everything had to be pro-
vided, and at prices so excessive as to leave but a small
balance on the Saturday night. A month's idleness, or a
fortnight's sickness, and what misery ! Necessaries to be
had on credit, at a rate equal to the vendor's supposed
risk ; and to be paid for on a future day, in addition to
the never ceasing outlay for the daily wants of a young
and growing family. Here then were intelligence, prac-
tical knowledge, special aptitude for a country life, teadly
flung away ; and the all but certainty of a grand future,
that is, a future of comfort and independence, sacrificed
for the precarious employment of a day-labourer in New
York ! A few years of hopeful toil, not more trying, but
less trying to the constitution, than that which he went
through every day, would have enabled the tenant of that
stuffy apartment in a desperately overcrowded city to
provide his wife and children with a happy, healthful,
prosperous home, which would have been theirs for ever,
and from which neither factor, nor agent, nor groggery
owner could have driven them. But, alas for them and

234 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

for him! the ready employment and its apparently large
reward, and the attractions of a city, were more than a
match for his good sense ; and now, like so many of his
countrymen, he is as thoroughly out of his legitimate
sphere as man can possibly be. I regretted I could not see
the husband ; but I did, as a matter of conscientious duty,
endeavour to make the wife and mother comprehend the
magnitude of the mistake which had been made, and urged
her to counsel him to free himself at the first oppor-
tunity from a position for which he was not suited, and
which was not suited for him.

I saw much in other tenement houses — whether houses
specially built for "the purpose, or houses adapted to that
purpose — to justify the accuracy of the descriptions given
in the reports from which I have quoted ; but though I
witnessed much misery and squalor, and in a few instances
glanced into places scarcely fit for the shelter of animals,
I must confess to have been more impressed by the sad
blunder of these young people — who would have made
such splendid settlers in some fertile region, whether of
Canada or the States — than with all I saw or heard during
the day.

Even where there is sobriety, industry, good conduct,
constant employment, the city is not the place for the
man bred in the country, and acquainted from his boyhood
only with country pursuits, whether as farmer or farm
labourer. The country wants him, clamours for him,
welcomes him, bids him prosper, and offers him the means
of doing so. But suppose there is not industry, sobriety,
good conduct, or constant employment, is it necessary to
depict the consequences ? The once simple peasant is soon
smirched by the foulness of such city corruption as too
frequently surrounds him or lies in his daily path ; and the
dram shop, so ruinously convenient to the dwellings of
the toiling poor, finds him one of its best customers. If
his children escape the perils of infancy, and grow up

TOWN AND COUNTRY. 236

about him, what is their training, what their career, what
their fate ? Possibly they are saved through some merciful
interposition ; perhaps by the tears and prayers of a good
mother, perhaps by the example of a sister who has caught
the mother's spirit. Possibly they grow up in industry
and virtue, but the odds are fearfully against them ; and
it is not at all improbable that the quick-witted offspring
of the father who becomes intemperate and demoralised,
fall into the class known as the Arabs of the Street, those
victims of parental neglect or unprovided orphanage, that,
as they arrive at manhood, mature into a still more danger-
ous class — the roughs and rowdies of the city, who are
ready for every kind of mischief, and to whom excitement,
no matter at whatever expense it may be purchased, be-
comes the first necessity of their existence.

Let it not be supposed that, in my earnest desire to
direct the practical attention of my countrymen, at both
sides of the Atlantic, to an evil of universally admitted
magnitude, I desire to exaggerate in the least. From the
very nature of things, the great cities of America — and in
a special degree New York — must be the refuge of the
unfortunate, the home of the helpless — the hiding-place of
the broken-down, even of the criminal ; and these, while
crowding the dwelling-places of the poor, and straining
the resources and preying on the charity of their com-
munities, multiply their existing evils, and add to their
vices. Still, in spite of the dangers and temptations by
which they are perpetually surrounded — dangers and temp-
tations springing even from the very freedom of republican
institutions no less than from the generous social habits
of the American people — there are thousands, hundreds
of thousands, of Irish-born citizens of the United States,
residing in New York and in the other great cities of the
Union, who are in every respect the equals of the best of
American population — honourable and upright in their
dealings ; industrious, energetic, and enterprising in busi-

236 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ness ; intelligent and quick of capacity ; progressive and
go-ahead ; and as loyally devoted to the institutions of
their adopted country as if they had been born under its
flag. Nevertheless, I repeat the assertion, justified by
innumerable authorities — authorities beyond the faintest
shadow of suspicion — that the city is not the right place
for the Irish peasant, and that it is the worst place which
he could select as his home.

The Irish peasant, who quits his native country for En-
gland or Scotland, may be excused for hiding himself in
any of its great towns, manufacturing or commercial, in-
land or seaport ; for not only may he find employment for
himself, and have some chance for his young people in
them, but there is no opportunity of his much bettering
his condition by going into the country, But there is no
excuse whatever for his remaining in the cities of America,
crowding and blocking them up, when there are at this
hour as many opportunities for his getting on in the
country — that is, making a home and independence for
himself and his children — as there were for the millions
of all nationalities who went before him, and who now
constitute the strength and glory of the Republic. The
Irish peasant who goes to England or Scotland has little
chance of being accepted even as the tenant of a farm in
either of those countries — a remote one, indeed, of ever be-
coming a proprietor of English or Scottish soil ; but the
most miserable cottier of Connernara or the worst-paid
day-labourer of Cork or Tipperary, who has the good
sense to push on from the American seaboard towards
those vast regions of virgin land that woo the hardy vigour
of the pioneer, may in the course of a few years possess
hundreds of acres of real estate by a more glorious title
than has been too often acquired in the old countries of
Europe, his own included — by the right of patient industry,
blessed toil, and sanctifying privation.

CHAPTER XII.
x.

The Land the great Resource for the Emigrant — Cases in Point —
An Irishman socially redeemed — More Instances of Success on
the Land — An Irish Public Opinion wanted — Irish Settlements
in Minnesota and Illinois — The Public Lands of America — The
Coal and Iron of America — Down South — A Kildare Man in the
South — Tipperary Men in the South — The Climate of the South —
California an Illustration of the true Policy.

EVERY mile I travelled, every man I met, every answer I
received, tended the more to convince me that the land
was the grand resource for the Irish emigrant, as well as
the safest and surest means of his advancement. It mat-
tered not whether it were Canada or the States, it was
equally the same; and, save industry, energy, and strength,
little was necessary to enable the humble man to make a
home for himself and his children.

Walking one day with a friend in a city of Upper
Canada, I was attracted by the gentlemanly air and man-
ner of a young man whom my companion saluted; and on
my asking who he was, and remarking that he had the
appearance of a gentleman, my friend replied, 'Yes, he is
a nice fellow, thoroughly educated and accomplished, and
a smart man in his profession, too. He, sir, is the son
of an Irishman — an Irish labourer — who came out here
without a penny in the world, and yet who died a rich
man, after bringing up his children as well as the first
gentleman in the land. He was a labourer on the canal ;
and instead of doing what too many of our people are so
fond of doing — stopping in the town — he contrived to buy
a bit of land, which he cleared from time to time, taking
an occasional job to procure provision for the winter; and

238 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

so he got on, adding to his property year after year, until
you see the result in his son, who is now a rising profes-
sional man, and who takes his place among the aristocratic
classes. Do, in God's name ! advise your countrymen to' stick
to the land — what they know most about.'

1 Ah ! sir/ said an Irishman, who had been many years
in the States, and whom I met in a great central city, 'I
made a sad mistake when I came out here first. I am
from the west of the county Cork, and I was engaged
in farming before I left Ireland; it was my business. But
I don't know how it was, I allowed myself to stay in the
town, and the time passed, and then it was too late, and I
hadn't the heart to make a new effort. I am sorry for
it now. Thank God, I am able to live, after educating
my family, and doing for them; but if I went, as others
did, to the country, and took a farm, and stuck to the
business I knew best, I'd be an independent man now in
my old age. It was a great mistake, sir, and the more I
think of it, the more I regret it. My heart sinks in me at
times when I think of what I might be this day, if I had
only the sense to do the right thing at the right time.'

Spending a Sunday not far from the Falls of Niagara, I
was speaking with a number of respectable Irishmen who
had been many years from Ireland, and to whom the cir-
cumstances of their countrymen in the surrounding districts
were thoroughly known. I turned the conversation in the
direction most interesting to me — the position of the Irish,
and the manner in which they had got on. The subject
was one which excited the sympathies and aroused the
recollections of my new acquaintances, who detailed as
many instances of successful thrift and patient industry
as would fill several pages.

Two Irishmen were working as helpers in a blacksmith's
shop at Niagara Docks, in 1844, and having saved some
money, they each purchased 100 acres of land, at a dollar
an acre. One in particular, after bringing his family with

CASES IN POINT. 239

him to their new home, and purchasing an axe, had but
three-quarters of a dollar in his possession. These men
divided their time between working for themselves and
others ; at one time chopping away with the ever-busy
axe, at another hiring their labour to the neighbouring
settlers, who were anxious to obtain their services. In the
summer months they earned as much as enabled them to
live during the winter, when they were hard at work at
home, clearing and fencing ; and when they had cropped
their own land they went out to work again. At the time
of which their story was thus told, they were each in the
possession of 200 acres of cleared land, with horses, cattle,
good houses, and every comfort that reasonable men could
desire. It may be curious to speculate what would have
been their destiny, had they continued at the drudgery
from which they emancipated themselves by their own
energy.

These were individual instances, casually mentioned,
and only remarkable from the fact of the two men having
mutually agreed to do the same thing ; but there were
numbers of other cases of equally successful industry.
There was, for instance, a labourer who left work on a
canal for a contractor, for work on the land for himself ;
and he also was the proprietor of 200 acres of fee simple
estate, having given to his children — both of whom were
members of learned professions — a first-class education.
In fact, there were as many as a hundred Irish families in
the surrounding district, who, in the opinion of the ex-
perienced gentleman to whom they were well known, had
not brought with them altogether 5001., and yet who too
occupied good farms of their own creation, then their own
property, and were looked upon as otherwise independent
in their means.

One of the most experienced men in Canada, who has
been long connected with emigration, thus gives his opinion
as to the best mode by which an emigrant who is resolved

240 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

on turning his attention to agriculture, and who possesses
no other capital than what he has received from Provi-
dence, can get on in the new world : —

'One or two years' service with a farmer, particularly
one who has himself earned his competency and comforts
through trials and from a hard beginning, should be
deemed an indispensable preparation for the settler before
undertaking the clearing up of land on his own account.
With that knowledge, he could obtain through the year, in
the favourable months, enough of cash to buy provisions
and necessaries for his family ; and in the winter and early
spring months, before hired help would be required, he
could work to much real advantage for himself.' What
applies to Canada applies equally well to the same work
and the same circumstances in the States.

An Irishman, observing the marked difference in the
circumstance and position of the same class of his country-
men in America in town and country, might be excused
for supposing there was something specially sacred in the
cultivation of the soil — in man toiling in the sweat of his
brow to raise from the fruitful bosom of the Great Mother
food for the sustenance of the human family. Whether
this be a fanciful notion or not, it is certain that, in a
moral point of view, agricultural occupations not only
preserve the simplicity and even purity of life so usually
to be found in the rural districts of almost every country,
but even restore to primitive tastes and regularity of life
those who return to them as a change. The easy-going
haunter of the tavern and the grog-shop in the town
becomes a steady and abstemious man when on his farm ;
and even the loose purposeless idler of the city hardens
into unwonted energy when he exchanges its enervating
atmosphere for the bracing air and wholesome pursuits
of the country. I have had many proofs that this is so in
America ; but one case, though presenting no remarkable
features, particularly impressed me at the time.

AN IRISHMAN SOCIALLY REDEEMED. 241

I was stopping with a genial countryman in a thriving
town in the State of Illinois, which was surrounded by a
rich farming country, the land mostly prairie. My host
was one of the most prosperous men in the town or district,
and enjoyed the highest character for energy, -probity, and
benevolence. Like most Irishmen in the same locality,
he was the sole architect of his own fortunes. In his
intelligent company I visited several farms owned by our
countryman, and situate from within five to ten miles of
the town. ' Now/ said my companion, as his stout horses
struggled through the heavy soil of the road, ' I will show
you one of the best farms hereabouts; and there is not
a better or a steadier man in the whole country than its
owner. He is doing well, too, and has brought up his
children nicely, though he had . little enough when he com-
menced, as I could tell. Here we are at the gate, and,
sure enough, there is himself in . the midst of his boys and
girls.' The farm, the house, the barns, stable and out-
offices — all fully justified the description given of them ;
and the owner, whom we found hard at work, affording an
example of industry to his young people, was in keeping
with everything around him, — respectable and substantial.
1 1 is not necessary to dwell on the cordiality of his reception,
or to teh1 of his mortification when he found that his
hospitable offers of bed and board could not be accepted
by his visitors : with an Irishman, hospitality is almost a
matter of course, and no one is more rejoiced than the
Irish- American to welcome one who is 'fresh from the
dear old country.' During our drive home my friend
assured me there was not in the neighbourhood, and for
a long way round, a man more respected or more generally
looked up to than the Irishman we had just quitted.
'His opinion,' he added, 'is asked, and taken moreover,
upon many important questions ; and when disputes arise
about various things, they are frequently referred to him,
and he settles them.'

11

242 THE IRISH IN AMERICA

The next morning I had a long and interesting con-
versation with an American gentleman largely connect-
ed with property in the locality. The conversation
happening to turn upon the point respecting which I was
ever on the look-out, if not for information, at least for
confirmation of my own conviction, — that the right place
for the Irish peasant was the land, — the American said :
1 It has often surprised me how it is that an essentially
agricultural people like the Irish will not invariably turn
to the same pursuit in this country, where they can have
all they desire — land cheap and abundant, with an un-
disputed title, and no one to trouble or disturb them.
However, we have a good many of your countrymen em-
ployed in what I regard as their legitimate and natural
avocation, and I am glad to tell you they are all doing well.
I know Irishmen who have been doing nothing, or worse
than nothing, in the town, and who became altogether dif-
ferent men when they went into the country. I remember
one of them' — and he mentioned the name of the well-
known farmer I had visited the day before — 'and so long
as he remained in the town he was doing very little good ;
in fact, he was falling into vicious habits, and was losing
himself day by day. Fortunately for himself, he had the
good sense to see that that kind of thing wouldn't do much
longer, and so he resolved to change his mode of life. He
left the town — cut it altogether — shook its dust from his
sandals ; he got a small bit of land, worked at it like a man.
— I know how hard he worked, — and soon increased his
farm, until, ere very long, it became a large one. And
not long since he purchased a considerable property in
addition ; and, what is more, he has paid nearly every
dollar of the purchase-money. I was asked by a gentleman
of this place whether this property was sold, and I said it
was — that Mr. So and So had bought it. " What ! " said
he, " did you trust him ? Why, when I remember him, he
was an idle do-nothing loafer, whom nobody would trust
with the price of a bushel of apples. I am amazed at your

MORE INSTANCES OF SUCCESS ON THE LAND. 243

having any business dealings with a person of his class."
" My dear sir," I said, " you are altogether mistaken in the
character of the man : he may have been what you say
he was when you knew him — that was many years ago ;
but I tell you there is not a more worthy or respectable
man in the country than he is. And not only have I sold
the property to him, but I got half the purchase-money
the day of the sale, and there is little left to pay, and
thai little I can have at any moment — to-morrow, if I
please." "Well," said the gentleman, "I am glad to hear
it ; I spoke from my remembrance when I used to see
him in the town, and I knew him to be rather a loose fish,
and generally in some kind of row or other. Though
I can't have the property, I rejoice it is in good hands."
Now, sir, you see how quitting the town and going on the
land has saved him, as it has many other Irishmen, to my
personal knowledge.'

It may be mentioned that the Irishman who was the
subject of this conversation, found in his young and
growing family one of the surest sources of his prosperity.
They sprang up about him, strong and vigorous as oaks,
accustomed to out-door work, which imparted health alike
to mind and body. Nor did he neglect their education
— it must be a worthless Irish father who will do so ; and
in their industry, intelligence, and vigorous health, to
say nothing of his own respectability and the quiet hap-
piness of his wife, who had her troubles in the outset — he
finds the best reward of his moral courage and perseverance.
He might have remained all his life a mere drudge in the
town ; now he is the absolute owner of 500 acres of land,
and is the founder of a prosperous family.

From the following passage of a letter received from a
dignitary of the Catholic Church, himself an Irishman,
who anxiously desires to see his countrymen in America
devote themselves to a congenial pursuit, it will be seen
how lack of mere money-capital is no insuperable bar to

244 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

advancement, so long as there is land to occupy, and there
are men and women with strength and intelligence to
cultivate it. The writer goes on to say : —

'Once, in visiting the diocese of Pittsburgh, I heard that
there were some Irish Catholics living in the extreme end

of county, Pennsylvania, which was also the extreme

point of the diocese. I resolved to try and see them. I
arrived there late in the afternoon, and the arrangements
already made did not permit me to stay longer than the
afternoon of the next day. The poor people were delighted
to have Mass, and an opportunity of approaching the
Sacraments. I found about twenty families who had
settled there during the previous three or four years.
They had all farms of their own ; nearly all had paid for
them, and had their land enough cleared to be able to
support themselves well on it thereafter. They had taken
up the land at a low price, and were able to give time
enough to work for hire amongst the older settlers, while
they kad time enough remaining to clear and cultivate
each year an additional portion of their own land. It was
the realisation of a system which I had often recommended,
and which might be carried out almost to any extent, that
ivould enable our countrymen to be proprietors of the soil,
instead of remaining drudges in our towns and cities.'

In support of my assertion, that the country is the right
place for the Irish peasant, and that in the cultivation of
the soil he has the best and surest means of advancement
for himself and his family, I cannot do more, in a work of
this kind, than prove, by a few cases in point, that the advice
I earnestly give to my countrymen at both sides of the
Atlantic is for their benefit, and for the honour of their
race and country. There is not in America a better man
or truer Irishman than the writer of the words I have just
quoted ; and I may add, that there are not twenty men
in the whole of the States who, from long and varied ex-
perience, and intimate knowledge of their countrymen, can
speak with greater weight of authortity than he can.

AN IRISH PUBLIC OPINION WANTED. 245

Turning from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, we have a
picture of progress as like as possible to many which have
already appeared in these pages. I take it from the valued
communication of a zealous and able Irishman * in the
latter State, who — associated with other Irishmen, including
a good priest — is successfully labouring in what I believe
to be the most practically patriotic cause that could engage
the attention and enlist the active sympathies of my
countrymen in America — such Irishmen as, by worth,
education, or position, can exercise a salutary influence
over those who stand in need of guidance or, if necessary,
assistance to secure for themselves a home and an honest
independence. Advice, guidance, information, influence —
these are even more valuable than pecuniary aid ; and
these require little sacrifice, even of time. What is
required for the uplifting of thousands and thousands —
nay hundreds of thousands — of Irish in America, is an
active, energetic, out-spoken Irish Public Opinion, that
will make its voice and influence heard and felt in every
direction, warning those who will take warning, and saving
those who can be saved from misery and degradation. To
be potent for good, every organisation should be, like that
in Minnesota, free from the taint of speculation or the
suspicion of jobbery ; and there is not a State in the Union,
or a great city, in which there should not be found a few
honourable and influential Irish gentlemen, who would
join together for a purpose which concerns their own
reputation, inasmuch as it concerns the reputation of the
race to which they belong, and cannot repudiate. It is
considered by Irishmen in America a noble and patriotic
object to regenerate, by arms and revolution, the millions
at home ; but surely to lift up the millions who are in
the States — to regenerate them morally, materially, and
socially — to give them greater power and influence through
rightly directed industry— to elevate the race in the esteem
Mr. Dillon O'Brien, of St. Paul, Minnesota.

246 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of the enlightened and generous-minded of the American
people, — this is an object more practical, in no way hazard-
ous or injurious to any interest or individual whatever, and
certainly not less noble or patriotic.

But all this while the brief picture of an Irish Settlement
in Minnesota is pressing for attention. The writer is the
Honorary Secretary of the Irish Emigrant Society of St.
Paul, who, by no means indifferent to the value of a little
money capital, thus shows what Irishmen have done with
the God-given capital of strength, skill, and patient in-
dustry : —

' Men who commenced the very poorest are to-day well
off. Let me give you an instance. Sixty miles west of
St. Paul, on the Minnesota river, Sibly county, is the
Irish Settlement of Jessen Land. About thirteen years
ago the first steamer that went up the Minnesota landed
two brothers of the name of Doheny, and a man the name
of Young, all from "gallant Tipperary," at this place,
then an unbroken wilderness*. Perhaps they were the first
white men who ever stood there. Well, they set to work,
cut down a tree here and there, put in a few hills of
potatoes, planted a little corn, put a few sticks and logs
together, and called them houses. This was all necessary
at the time to fulfil the requirements of the law. In this
way they made claims, not alone for themselves, but for
friends in the East, and became owners of a large tract
of splendid land. When all this was accomplished their
money was run out ; so they returned to St. Paul, and
went again to work. In the following spring they again
went up the Minnesota, this time bringing their families,
and the friends for whom they had made land entries, with
them. To-day this settlement, and Walter and Tom Do-
heny, who started it, are a credit to us all. The settle-
ment has two-storey handsome farm-houses and barns, its
church, priest, and school. Its people are what the Irish
peasant can become even in the first generation — intelli-

IRISH SETTLEMENTS IN MINNESOTA AND ILLINOIS. 247

gent, industrious, open-hearted, generous, brave, and in-
dependent. When I want to be reminded of my dear
country, I spend a day in Jessen Land.'

Here is a mere glimpse of the Irish in Illinois :
An excellent Irishman, residing in Chicago, whose
business, as a commission agent, has for the last ten years
brought him into constant communication with his country-
men of the farming classes, not only throughout Illinois,
but several other of the Western States, says : c There is
not a county of the one hundred counties of which Illinois .
is composed, that has not representatives from Ireland
among its farming population ; and I am proud to say to
you, and the world, that where the Irish farmer once gets
settled down upon his farm, in this his western home, that
he shows as much energy and go-aheadishness as emigrants
from any other part of the world. We have, in almost
every county, what are known as Irish settlements founded
by some early adventurous Irishman. Several are of great
extent ; that, for instance, founded by Mr. Neill Donnelly,
in M'Henry's county, is one of the finest in the State.
There are three good-sized Catholic churches and several
excellent district schools in this settlement, in which there
is much comfort and prosperity.' After referring to the
harmony in which the Irish live' with all nationalities, and
the mutual willingness to assist and serve each other, my
excellent friend adds : 'Nothing less than 80 acres of
land is worth while to have out here, although occasionally
you will find a small farm of 40 acres; but it is looked
upon as nothing in this part of the world. Some of my
Irish friends in Donnelly's and other settlements, have
G40 acres each, and almost all at least 120 acres. Far-
mers divide their crops often in this way; say 20 acres
of wheat, 10, or 20, or 40 acres of corn, so many acres
of oats, rye, barley, potatoes, &c., according to the size
of the farm. To afford you an idea of the prosperity
of our Irish farmers, I will mention that often, in the

248 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

course of my business, I have at one time sold as high
as one thousand dollars' worth of pork, butter, and wheat,
for one Irish farmer ; and I can tell you he had not much
when he began the world here. But industry, and, above
all, sobriety, will carry an Irishman through any difficulty.
We should not have to see a poor man in any of our big
cities while there is a glorious State like this, with the
best lands to be had for little. What I say of Illinois can
also be said of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, as well as
of Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. All this vast
country offers inducements to thrifty, honest settlers, such
as no other country can offer; and our people, many of
whom are wasting their energies in eastern cities, would do
well to avail themselves of them. I tell you it would bene-
fit them soul as well as body to do so.'

To one who hears so much as I have heard of the less
than 21,000,000 acres of Ireland, and the 77,000,000 of
the whole of the United Kingdom — including England,
Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and every island adjoining or
belonging thereto — the idea of the acreage of the United
States is simply bewildering. One would require a gigantic
mind to grasp or comprehend a thing in itself so gigantic.
Practically speaking, the public lands, or those which have
not passed into individual ownership, are illimitable.
Millions and millions of square miles, hundreds of millions
of acres, never yet surveyed — millions and millions of
square miles, and hundreds of millions of acres surveyed,
but not occupied, and capable of absorbing, for centuries,
the surplus population of Europe. Almost any one of the
new Territories — which will be the States of to-morrow —
would swallow, at a bite, as a child would a cherry, all the
agricultural population of Ireland, with its proprietors,
resident and absentee, included. One thing, however, is
indisputable — that the Irish who have emigrated, or who

THE PUBLIC LANDS OF AMERICA. 249

may emigrate to America, ought to find no difficulty in
suiting themselves ; also, that there are as good chances
to-day for the bold and adventurous as there were ten, or
twenty, or fifty years back.

Though it is difficult to afford a sober idea of what is of
itself well nigh incomprehensible from its very vastness, I
must endeavour to represent, and that as briefly as possi-
ble, the extent of the Public Lands of the United States.

The total extent of the Public Lands of the United
States is 1,468,000,000 acres ; of which 474,160,000 acres
had been explored and surveyed up to the close of 1866.
The surveyed land is generally well suited for agriculture,
and in the most favourably circumstanced localities, on the
banks of streams, and in the neighbourhood of trunk roads.
There remain unsurveyed, and open to any settler under
the Pre-emption Laws, 991,308,249 acres. In Colorado, a
rich mineral and agricultural State, only 1,500,000 acres
are surveyed, and 65,000,000, or nearly the extent of the
entire of the United Kingdom, unsurveyed. In "Washing-
ton Territory 3,500,000 are surveyed, 41,000,000 unsur-
veyed. In Oregon, a State into which immigrants pour at
the rate of 20,000 a year, only 5,000,000 acres are sur-
veyed, while 55,000,000 are unsurveyed. In Kansas, a
partially settled State, the surveys extend over 16,000,000
acres, leaving 35,000,000 unsurveyed. Nebraska, 13,000,000
out of 48,000,000. California, with 27,000,000 acres sur-
veyed, has 93,000,000 unsurveyed ! This one State, to
which the Irish have added so large a portion of its popu-
lation, is six times larger than . Ireland, or has six times
more than the number of acres respecting which it ap-
pears— at least, up to the time these words are written —
to be so impossible to deal with or legislate for according
to the dictates of man's wisdom and the principles of
God's justice. In Arizona, Dacota, New Mexico, Utah,
Montana, Idaho, there are enormous tracts, to be counted
by hundreds of millions of acres, of every variety of soil,

250 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and richly endowed with minerals, open to the emigrant.
In Minnesota, into which immigration has been strongly
flowing for years, there are 31,000,000 of unsurveyed
land. In the older of the still modern States there are
vast tracts of land open to the purchaser, and all sur-
veyed. Thus, in Wisconsin there are 33,000,000 acres ;
in Iowa, 35,000,000 ; Missouri, 41,000,000 ; Alabama,
32,000,000 ; Ohio, 25,000,000 ; Florida, 26,000,00 : Ar-
kansas, 33,000,000 ; Mississippi, 30,000,000 ; Louisiana,
23,000,000 ; Indiana, 21,000,000 ; Michigan, 36,000,000 ;
and Illinois, 35,000,000 acres. In the new mineral States,
such as Colorado and Nevada, the mining population
afford a ready market for all surplus agricultural produce.
A couple of years since there were prices for agricultural
produce in Colorado which would remind one of the state
of things in California during the first rush to the gold
mines ; but cultivation has now so much increased, that
the prices, though most remunerative, have been con-
siderably reduced. In the course of time mining enter-
prise will extend more to Arizona, Montana, Idaho, &c.,
all the new Territories and States being rich in minerals ;
and as mining operations advance in any locality, the
agricultural population will be correspondingly benefited.
In fact, with mining enterprise, all kinds of manufac-
turing industries gradually spring up.; and those who are
thus engaged form the readiest and best customers to the
farmer, who finds with them a profitable market for his
surplus produce of every kind.

The Government surveys not only follow the course of
immigration, but meet its requirements. But there is
always a large quantity of surveyed land in each of the
new States, as indeed in the others, available for imme-
diate settlement. Much of it is prairie, which does not
present the difficulties of timber land in cultivation.
The total thus available — offered or unoffered — in 1866,
was sufficient to make 831,250 farms of 160 acres each.

*
THE COAL AND IRON OF AMERICA. 251

Under the Homestead Law* a form may be had at an
almost nominal price — little more than the 'cost of its
survey. Upon the unsurveyed lands any person may
enter, and proceed to appropriate and cultivate a tract;
and when the survey reaches and includes his land, he
will have the right of pre-emption — purchasing its fee
simple — at a small price, which may be somewhat en-
hanced by a neighbouring improvement, such as a rail-
road passing within a certain distance. The settler may
have occupied his farm for years, it may be two or it may
be ten, before the survey comes up to him, and he can
therefore well afford to pay the very moderate price which
the Government charges" for what is then carefully and ac-
curately denned, and for which his title is made good
against the world. Under the Homestead Law the limit
of the farms which each individual can obtain is 160 acres ;
but under the Pre-emption Law it appears the settler may
purchase any quantity in proportion to the number of
acres cleared at the time of the survey.

The amazing vastness of the land or territory of the
United States may be indicated by a single fact in refer-
ence to her mines, which, in addition to her agricultural
resources, offer an immense field for human labour. Her
coal lands alone cover an area of two hundred thousand
square miles; while the combined coal fields of Europe
cover but 16,000 square miles — that is, the coal fields
of the United States are more than twelve times more
extensive in area . than all the coal fields of Europe !
Iron, that metal more really precious than gold, is found
in the neighbourhood of coal. With respect to this valu-
able mineral, America maintains her supremacy of vast-
iiess ; and any one who travels some hundred miles from
the splendid city of St. Louis may behold a huge mountain
of solid iron, rising many hundred feet above the. plain,
and presenting a striking feature in the landscape.

* For a copy of the ' Act to Secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public
Domain,' see Appendix.

252 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

It is not at all necessary that an Irish immigrant should
go West, whatever and how great the inducements it offers
to the enterprising. There is land to be had, under certain
circumstances and conditions, in almost every State in the
Union. And there is no State in which the Irish peasant
who is living from hand to mouth in one of the great cities
as a day-labourer, may not improve his condition by be-
taking himself to his natural and legitimate avocation —
the cultivation of the soil. Nor is the vast region of the
South unfavourable to the laborious and energetic Irish-
man. On the contrary, there is no portion of the Ameri-
can continent in which he would receive a more cordial
welcome, or meet with more favourable terms. This would
not have been so before the war, or the abolition of slavery,
and the upset of the land system which was based upon
the compulsory labour of the negro. Before the war, the
land was held in mass by large proprietors, and, whatever
its quantity, there was no dividing or selling it — that is
willingly; for when land was brought to the hammer,
£he convenience of the purchaser had to be consulted.
But there was no voluntary division of the soil, no cutting
it up into parcels, to be occupied by small proprietors.
Now, the state of things is totally different. Too much
land in the hands of one individual may now be as em-
barrassing in the South as in the North, especially when
it is liable to taxation. The policy of the South is to
increase and strengthen the white population, so as not to
be, as the South yet is, too much dependent on the negro ;
and the planter who, ten years ago, would not sever a single
acre from his estate of 2,000, or 10,000, or 20,000 acres,
will now readily divide, if not all, at least a considerable
portion of it, into saleable quantities, to suit the conve-
nience of purchasers. He will do more than divide ; he
will sell on fair terms, and he will afford a fair time to pay
— he will, in fact, do all in his power to promote the growth
of the white population, while yielding to the necessity of

DOWN SOUTH. 253

the times, which compels him to part with what has
become rather burdensome and embarrassing to himself.

This is a subject on which I could not venture to write
without the fullest authority ; but I have spoken with
hundreds of Southerners of rank and position, men identi-
fied with the South by the strongest ties of birth, property,
and patriotism ; and I know, from unreserved interchange
of opinion with them, that the general feeling of the en-
lightened and the politic is in favour of inducing European
settlers to come to the South, and come on easy terms. ' The
experience of the past year (1866),' said a well-informed
Southern gentleman to me, 'leads most of our people to
see the absolute necessity of dividing and sub-dividing
the large plantations.' I heard almost the same words
used in several of the Southern States, as well by owners
of large estates as by persons extensively engaged in the
sale and management of property.

There is a prejudice, and a somewhat ignorant pre-
judice, against the South ; the prevalent idea being that
no one but the negro can venture to brave its climate —
that open-air labour in the South is death to the white
man. I know of Irishmen who cultivate farms in all tho
Southern States, and who work at them themselves ; and
that they and their children are strong and robust. But
not only are some of the Southern States temperate and
genial, but in almost ah1 those States there are portions
which are most favourable to the industry and longevity
of the white man. I was anxious to obtain reliable in-
formation on this point, and I received from the Bishop
of Charleston — the honoured son of a good Irishman — a
statement respecting a State that, perhaps of all others,
is the one to which prejudice would first point as the most
unsuited to the labour of the European. South , Carolina,
like all the Southern States, has its belts, of soil as well
as climate, favourable and unfavourable to the European
immigrant. Dr. Lynch says of his State, that it is 'pro-

254 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

bably the most Irish of any of the States of the Union.'
'Irish family names abound in every rank and condition
of life; and there are few men, natives of the State, in
whose veins there does not run more or less of Irish blood.'
He adds, ' While . its inhabitants have always had the
impetuous character of the Irish race, nowhere has there
been a more earnest sympathy for the straggles of Irish-
men at home, nowhere will the Irish immigrant be
received with greater welcome, or be more generously
supported in all his rights ; and I do not know any part
of the country where industry and sobriety would ensure
to the immigrant who engages in agriculture an ampler
compensation for himself and family in a briefer number
of years.' In his communication, written in compliance
with my request, the Bishop points out the healthy and
the unhealthy, the favourable and the unfavourable, belts
or districts of his State.*

In reference to the Southern States I had the opinion
of an eminent Irishman, one who laid down the highest
dignity in the church for an humble position, in which he
is honoured and beloved. His knowledge of the country
is intimate and extensive, and his experience goes back
more than thirty years. I was anxious to have his opinion
as to the suitability of the South for the Irish emigrant,
as I knew he had recently been in most of its States;
and it is thus given : —

' During my late trip to the South I made various en-
quiries regarding the prospects there for Irish emigrants.
The result of these enquiries was, that a great field was
open for them ; but I feel convinced that it could scarcely
be made useful for them in a temporal or spiritual point
of view without more combination and organised efforts
than I think it at all likely, at least at present, to be
obtained amongst our people, or any parties that could be
induced to act for them or to direct them. If such

* For the Bishop's letter, see Appendix.

A KILDARE MAN IN THE SOUTH. 255

organisation could be effected, I believe the South would
offer a better field for emigration than any other part of
the country.'

Bishop Lynch insists on ' industry and sobriety ' as the
grand essentials to the Irishman's success in the South ;
and when I was in Charleston he afforded me the oppor-
tunity of witnessing, in the person of a countryman from
the county Kildare, as good an illustration as I could desire
» to behold of the happy exercise of these noble qualities.
Some three or four miles outside the city we arrived at a
snug prosperous-looking place, a good house surrounded by
a farm of rich land, in which acres of vegetables and green
crops of various kinds were then in luxuriant growth, being
cultivated in a manner that would satisfy even a London
market gardener. Twenty-three years ago the owner of
this valuable property — worth more than $20,000 — arrived
in America, with little money in his pocket, but with some
knowledge of farming, and a speciality for the cultivation
of vegetables. He remained 'knocking about' the nor-
thern cities for six months, living from hand to mouth,
taking such da^ work as he could obtain. * This won't do/
said the boy from Kildare to himself ; ' it's all well for the
day, but there's nothing for the morrow or the next day ;
I must try and get something to make me independent.'
So in pursuit of independence he came down South, where
he entered the employment of a gentlemen of famous
name in America, but whose parents were both 'full-
blooded Irish,' and whose approbation the boy from
Kildare won by the success with which he cultivated
vegetables and green crops. Had there been a priest or
a church within covenient distance, the young Irishman
would have willingly remained in his good employment,
continuing to lay aside the greater portion of his wages ;
but as many as eight months would pass before he could
gratify the pious longing of his Catholic heart ; and so, at
length, and much against his will, he quitted the great

256 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

man's service. With his earnings he came to Charleston —
not into the city, unless to say his prayers and make neces-
sary purchases or sales — and set to work, like a sensible
Irishman, at the business he best knew. But without
entering into the details of years of honest and sober
industry, it is sufficient to say that his fine farm is his own
property, and that he has given to his children a liberal
education. Kindly, good-natured, active and full of health,
this man, though now of middle age, is as simple in
manner — as natural and as Irish — as he was the day he
saw the last of x' Kildare's holy shrine.' Possibly I am
somewhat prejudiced in his favour ; for a more pleasant
cup of tea I never drank in America than that which I
received from the hands of his wife — the more pleasant
because of a previous and somewhat extended exploration
round and through the famous city of Charleston. A sober
man, he was ' not a bit the worse of the climate ; ' and his
looks fully justified his words. This man's capital was
industry, intelligence, and good conduct ; and in America,
perhaps more surely than in any country under the sun,
this kind of capital is sure to create the other capital — the
dollar and the dollar's worth.

When in Augusta, Georgia, I fell in with perhaps one
of the best persons to offer a practical opinion as to the
suitability of the South for the settlement of the Irish.
Names are not necessary to be mentioned in most instances,
but in this instance the name of my authority for the
following statement may be given. Mr. H. C. Bryson,
from the north of Ireland, has been engaged for forty years
in the cotton trade ; and he holds that the temperate por-
tions of Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi,
are well suited to the settlement and healthful labour of
the Irish. He mentioned many cases in point, where the
Irish had settled, gone on prosperously, and maintained
the most robust health. One illustration, and that a very
striking and comprehensive one, will however suffice. In

TIPPERARY MEN IN THE SOUTH. 257

the year 1850, about fifty Irish families, all from the
county Tipperary, — Burkes, Keilings, Keatings, Hyneses,
Hartys, Mahers, &c., — made their way down from the
North, and settled in Talliafero county, Georgia. They
were hard-working, sober people, but amongst them all
they did not possess a hundred dollars. One of the men
had to bring one of his children on his back, while the
other little ones trotted alongside him. In a very short
time after, these hard-working, sober people, who would not
1 hang about the cities/ were in comfortable circumstances,
entirely the result of their labour and industry — that
capital which money cannot always purchase. These
Irishmen in the South raise corn, cotton, and stock ; and
in ah1 they do, they are more careful and particular than
many- of the people around them. Mr. Bryson has often
sold from five to ten bales of cotton for each of them, at
$125 the bale. 'They are more particular/ says Mr.
Bryson, 'and take more pains with their corn and their
cotton, than most of their neighbours. They are all strong
and hearty ; in fact, I never heard of one of them being
ill — and I know every man of them well. But this I
attribute rather to their frugal life and temperate habits
than to any other cause. They have a fine school of their
own, and can go to their church as well as the best people
in the country ; they have good houses, abundance of
everything they can desire — and I assure you they could
entertain you as well as any men in the State. They are
a credit to any country. But the Irishman, when he comes
out here, is among the most industrious of all/

' I think/ adds Mr. Bryson, ' that the cotton raised by
men of this class — men who work at it themselves, and
who have an interest in what they are doing — is the finest
grown of any. It is better handled, and more carefully
picked. None of these men owned a slave, and so much
the better for them ; for they have lost nothing by the
change, while others lost the greater part of their capital.

258 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

I spoke of the health enjoyed by the Irish who are farm-
ing. In Locust Grove there are a good many of them,
and for the last ten years I don't know of an adult among
them dying, save one — for I don't count a poor fellow who
came home from the Army in Virginia to die ; and that
one that I do count was Murdoch Griffin, but he was
sixty-eight years old when he died, and he had hard work
in his day. Griffin started about thirty-five years since,
without a dollar in his pocket ; and when he died his
property was worth $70,000 in gold. Any Irishman that
goes into the country with his family can do well, and
make a fortune.'

This was the testimony of a shrewd observant Northern
Irishman,— as good an authority on the subject of which
he spoke as could be found in the whole of the United
States.

And in the city of Augusta, in which there are several
Irish doing a good business, and holding a good position,
there is an Irish settlement, known by the name of Dublin ;
which is occupied by a hard-working, industrious, thrifty,
and sober population, to whom the houses and the land on
which they stand belong.

An able and experienced Irishman — himself one of the
most successful citizens of Memphis, Tennessee — remarked
to me one day : 'The trouble is, that the Irish don't go
on the land as much as they ought. I never knew an
Irishman that pulled up pegs, and went on the land, that
did not do well. All have done well that went into the
country. It is now the easiest thing in the world to get
land, and good land too, at iair terms. Take an example
in a man from your own part of Ireland, to show you how
an Irishman may purchase a good property here. A man
from Cork, a mere labourer, went out to Brownsville,
ditching — in other words, fencing, to keep in cattle. That
was in 1862. I know that man to have $3,300 in bank,
and $1,500 besides; that is, nearly $5,000 in all. He has

THE CLIMATE OF THE SOUTH. 259

not yet invested in land, but he intends doing so. He is
looking about him, and he will be sure to pick up a splen-
did thing for the money. This Cork man of yours now
hires a couple of negroes, and does work by contract.'

'But the climate?' I enquired.

' Climate ! — all nonsense about the climate. Climate !
"Why, you have more sunstrokes in one month in New York
than there are for a whole year in the entire of the South.
If a man drinks, the climate will tell on him — may kill
him ; but if he is a sober man, there is no fear of him.
That is my experience ; and I have a pretty long one, I
can tell you. The land, sir, is the thing — the" country the
place for our people. The land will give a man everything
but coffee, tea or sugar ; these he can buy, and live like
a king. I know an Irishman, who was a porter in a hotel,
at $25 a month. He went five miles out of the city, and
leased forty acres, took a dairy, bought cows, and brought
his milk into the city. He is now the owner of eighty
acres of valuable land, witlj a fine house, and every comfort
for himself and his family. The land, sir ! the land, sir !
is the place for our people ; tell them so.'

I do not venture to suggest to the Irishman in America,
or the Irishman who intends to emigrate to America, to
what State of the Union he should go in search of a home.
All I say is this : if he is a farmer, a farm-labourer, a pea-
8anl — that is} a man born and bred in the country — let him
go anywhere, so that he goes out of the city. Turn where
he may, he is always sure to find a market for his labour ;
and having obtained the employment best suited to his
knowledge and capacity, he can put by his dollars, and
look around him to see if anything in the neighbourhood
would suit him, or is within his reach ; or if there be no
fair opening for him, no prospect of making a home there,
then he has Only to push on farther, and he will be certain
to find the land and the home to his liking. With money

260 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

in his pocket and strength in his arms, and a determination
to employ both to the best advantage, surely there is little
fear of the Irishman who desires to make a home for him-
self in the New World.

In a word, the peasant — the man of the spade, the
plough, and the harrow — for the country, the land, the
soil. So the artizan, the mechanic, the handycraftsman,
for the city, the workshop, the factory — for the place and
occupation which are best suited to his skill, his capacity,
and his training. One would not, at least ought not, re-
commend a watchmaker, or an engineer, or a gas-fitter, or a
house-painter, or a boiler-maker, to go into the forest and
hew down trees, or to the prairie and turn it up with a
plough and a team of oxen. The city is their right place.
But, even with the mechanic, discrimination is necessary.
Young and rising cities may offer better opportunities to
the skilled workman than old cities, in which the compe-
tition is fierce, the special trade may be overdone, and
the cost of living is out of all proportion to the payment,
however liberal that may be. In new places the prudent
man may secure his lot, or his two lots, even a block, on
reasonable terms ; and as time -goes on — a short time in
the States — the town extends, the population increases,
and property rises in value ; and thus, with comparatively
little outlay, a prudent man may become rich, with small
trouble and no risk. Then, in rising places, the demand
for certain classes of skilled labour is greater, and its re-
muneration larger, than in places already built and long
settled. The prudent* artizan may thus have two strings
to his bow, and both of them serviceable : he may work
at greater advantage, and speculate with greater cer-
tainty of profit. There are in America thousands of Irish-
men— not a few of them 'millionaires' — who, prudent
and far-seeing, have risen with the fortunes of new places,
in which they secured a large interest by timely and
judicious investment. I have met with several of these

CALIFORNIA AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE TRUE POLICY. 201

ineu, and I heard from their own lips the story of their
good fortune.

Taking all things into consideration, I do not know of
any of the States which affords a more favourable illus-
tration of the policy I desire to urge on my countrymen,
than California ; where the Irish, besides being engaged
in many profitable pursuits, are also found largely dis-
tributed, over the land, and where the knowledge of farm-
ing which they brought with them from the old country
has been turned by them to the best account.

I shall therefore glance at that magnificent State, to
ascertain in what position the Irish are there to be found.

262 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XIII.

California of the Past and Present— Early Irish Settlers— Death
amid the Mountains — Pat Clark. But One Mormon — The Irish
wisely settle on the Land — How they Succeeded in the Cities —
Successful Thrift. Irish Girls— The Church in San Francisco—
What a poor Irishman can do.

is not a State in the Union in which the
JL Irish have taken deeper and stronger root, or thriven
more successfully, than California, in whose amazing pro-
gress — material, social, and intellectual — they have had
a conspicuous share. For nearly twenty years past this
region has been associated in the popular mind with
visions of boundless wealth and marvellous fortunes ; and
it may be interesting to learn under what circumstances
the Irish became connected with a country of such uni-
versal repute, and of whose population they forn\ a most
important and valuable portion.

Long before the discovery of the precious metal at-
tracted the adventurous from every quarter of the globe to
the golden shores of the Pacific, Irishmen had made their
home in California, where they had been hospitably re-
ceived by the kindly Spanish race, with whom they freely
intermixed, and amongst whom they were in the enjoy-
ment of abundant means, won by honest industry, or the
result of no less honourable public service. And how
different the California of a quarter of a century since
from the California of the present day! It retains but a
faint resemblance to what it was when the sole occupants
and lords of the soil were the good missionary priests, the
rancheros, and the Indians. Then the peaceful dweller

CALIFORNIA OF THE PAST AND PRESENT. 263

amidst the beautiful solitude, beheld nature in its most
lovely and attractive form ; a wide expanse of undulating
plain and charming valley, rich and well watered, un-
fenced and untilled ; groves and noble forests of oak, pine,
cedar, and other trees of majestic size, some growing
singly or in groups, as if planted by the hand of taste ;
l:irge and numerous herds of horses and cattle roaming
over the luxuriant pastures, the only living objects giving
evidence of the presence or proximity of man. But a few
years have passed since then, and what a change ! The
landscape chequered with smiling farms, homesteads, and
villas — dotted over with towns and villages — life and
movement everywhere — evidences of the energy and in-
dustry of man in all directions. Where there stood a
few huts on the sea-shore, there is now a great city, with
bustling wharves and crowded thoroughfares and busy
population — a majestic cathedral, and the rival churches
of almost every diversity of religious belief. The rancheros
and the Indians have passed away, never to return ; but
the Cross is still there, thanks, in a great measure, to those
islanders who have been so wonderfully selected by Pro-
vidence as the most successful missionaries of the Faith
in this century, as in others now remote.

Among the few, not of Spanish origin, who settled in
California prior to 1848, were many Irish, of every class,
who proved, by their presence in a distant and then almost
unknown country, to the possession of those qualities so
essential in flje pioneer of civilisation — courage, enter-
prise, and love of adventure. The first sojourners were
the mountain trappers, whose knowledge and education
extended little beyond the woodcraft so necessary to suc-
cess in their perilous occupation. The trapper's chief
thought was of the trail and the Indian ambush ; his con-
stant study, the habits and the haunts of game; his
wealth and his defence, a rifle and a horse. This was a
wild and dangerous, occasionally a remunerative calling.

264 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

which too often terminated in his being a victim to the
bullet or the knife of the treacherous savage, who adorned
his wigwam with the scalp of the white invader of his
hunting grounds. To one of this class, an Irishman,
Captain J. S. Smith, is due the credit of having led the
first party of white men over land to California. At the
head of a band of some forty trappers, in the service of the
American Fur Company, he had the courage to cross the
lofty ridges and formidable barriers of the Sierra Nevada.
Smith, who was a native of the King's county, emigrated
at an early age to the United States, joined the Fur Com-
pany, and ultimately became chief trader at their post on
Green River. In one of his excursions, exploring the
county south and west of Salt Lake, he crossed over to
California, visited San Diego and San Jose, where he
encamped with his party for some time. There is a letter
of his extant, written in May, 1827, to Padre Zuran, the
missionary priest of San Jose", in which he gives an ac-
count of himself, and his reasons for remaining so long in
the vicinity. On his return trip he and most of his party
were slain by the Indians east of the Sierra. But few
escaped — four or five at most; and among them was an
Irishman who, from his great stature, was known as Big
Fallen. He remained in the country.

Between the years 1825 and 1836, some few Irishmen
arrived by sea, and settled in California. These were
principally masters or other officers of American trading
vessels, or seamen before the mast, with an occasional ad-
venturer in search of a home ; and being wise enough to
appreciate the advantages offered by a lovely country and
a fine climate, and liking the character of the inhabitants,
they resolved to abandon the deep and its dangers, and
cast anchor for life on shore. Generally settling in the dif-
ferent sea-ports, they soon, owing to their knowledge and
industry, became independent; and having married and
become naturalised, they were recognised and treated by

EARLY IRISH SETTLERS. 265

the kindly and hospitable people amongst whom they came
as belonging to themselves. Their similarity of religion
was greatly in their favour with the Spaniards ; and this
important advantage was in no small degree enhanced
by the ease and quickness with which they acquired the
language of the country, as well as by their natural
politeness and their deference to the 'fairer portion of
the creation, traits for which the Irish are at all times
honourably distinguished. These qualities and accom-
plishments rendered them great favourites with the de-
scendants of the Castilian hidalgo, and facilitated their
worldly success. Many of these early settlers were men
of fair education and good manners, and came principally
from the Southern provinces of Ireland. Among them
were to be found Beads and Dens of Waterford, Aliens of
Dublin, Murphys of Wexford, Burkes of Galway, Cop-
pingers of Cork, and others. Some became extensive
proprietors of land and raisers of stock, others practised
as physicians, while more acquired wealth and repute as
enterprising merchants ; and they with their families, that
quickly sprung up around them — vigorous in body as in
intellect — formed the nucleus of that Irish and Catholic
element which was to be so wonderfully strengthened by
subsequent and continuous emigration.

I might be inclined to linger over the history and for-
tunes of Don Timoteo Murphy, who, arriving in 1829 from
Peru, where he had spent two years, rose to an eminent
position, as Administrator of the Mission, and Alcalde for
the district of San Kafael, acquired vast estates, and was
universally esteemed and honoured during a residence
of a quarter of a century in the country. He is thus
spoken of by a fellow-countryman and friend, himself
one of the most fortunate and respected of the Irish
settlers in California : ' Murphy was a splendid specimen
of a man, tall, powerful, and well-built, a good horseman
and keen hunter. He imported the first greyhounds to

12

266 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

California, and kept a kennel of twenty to thirty hounds ;
the abundance of deer, elk, and antelope afforded material
for the chase, and Murphy gave them little rest. He was
hospitable, kind, and generous, and looked up to as a
father by the people of the country.'

About the year 1838, the trail across the Sierras to Cali-
fornia began to be travelled more frequently by hunters.
In two years after a small party of emigrants arrived by
that route ; and from that date to the present each suc-
ceeding year has brought with it bands of hardy and
adventurous men and women to develop the resources
of that portion of the American continent. In the ex-
ploring expedition of John C. Fremont many Irishmen
joined, and remained afterwards in the country.

The year 1844 witnessed a remarkable arrival — that of
a body of immigrants from Canada and Missouri, mostly
Irish, including a single family numbering no less than
five-and-twenty individuals. This party formed a valuable
addition to the community, consisting of respectable and
intelligent men, who, from their previous traning, were well
fitted to cope with the difficulties incidental to a settlement
in a new country. The leader of this party was Mr. Martin
Murphy, a native of Wexford, who brought with him
his family of sons, daughters, and grand-children. Mr.
Murphy had originally emigrated to Lower Canada, from
which he passed to Missouri ; but, not finding that the
Missouri of that day realised the anticipations which
he had formed of it, he decided, old as he was — he was
then in his sixtieth year — on seeking a home more suited
to his habits and feelings. He gathered together the
different branches of his family, and joining with other
Irish families in their neighbourhood, thus formed a
numerous party, or train, to cross the plains to California,
whither they were destined. Martin Murphy must have
had considerable pluck, fortitude, and confidence in him-
self and his associates, to start on a journey of 2,500

DEATH AMID THE MOUNTAINS. 267

miles over a trackless prairie, inhabited by fierce and
hostile Indians, bound to a land then little known, and
that only from the vague accounts afforded by trappers and
others, who from time to time returned to the settlements
in Western Missouri. The party, however, reached their
destination in safety, having met with no casualty beyond
the loss of their waggons, which they were compelled to
abandon in the defiles of the Sierras. The gallant leader,
with his unmarried sons and daughters, settled in the
valley of San Jose, where the family purchased large
tracts of land, and became extensive owners of stock,
counting the one by the league, and the other by the
thousand. It is a little more than a year since Martin
Murphy died, at a grand old age, the founder of a pros-
perous race.

That Martin Murphy's venture was full of peril, not-
withstanding its fortunate result, may be learned from the
story of the terrible disaster which overtook the Donner
party, among whom were some Irish — one of them now an
extensive proprietor in the county of Monterey. This party,
consisting of over eighty persons, crossed the plain in the
summer of 1846. On the 31st of October they were caught
in a snow storm in the Californian mountains, in which all
their cattle perished; and having consumed the last of
their provisions, and even eaten the leather of their saddles
and harness, they were driven to the dreadful extremity of
feasting on the remains of those who had died of cold and
hunger. A gallant band was despatched to their relief
from San Francisco ; but, owing to the high state of the
waters of the Sacramento, and the heavy snowfall in the
mountains, they were delayed several weeks before they
could reach the sufferers. On the 1st of March 1847, relief
arrived, but too late for many of their party ; for, out of a
company of eighty-one, not more than forty-five were found
alive, the remaining thirty-six having perished horribly.
One of the band sent to their aid, an Irishman, was in

268 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

time to save a poor famished and frenzied mother from
laying deadly hands on her own infant, to which he gave
the shelter of his coat and the warmth of his honest breast
all the way to San Francisco. The Eanch owner, who was
one of the survivors, is now living in San Juan, South,
with his wife and grown-up children, who shared the
privations of that terrific trip across the plains. The old
gentleman, though now in his seventy-fifty year, is in the
most robust health, and looks years younger than his
actual age.

In the following years many families of Irish, as well as
young single men, came by every train that then regularly
arrived in the fall. Some had means, others had educa-
tion without means, and more were deficient in both ; but
if some lacked both of these important advantages, they had
shrewdness, intelligence, vigour of body, and a determina-
tion to allow no obstacle to stand long in their path.

The daring adventure of a poor labourer from the
county Meath affords a splendid instance of pluck and
perseverance.

Patrick Clark, seeing so many of his countrymen leaving
Missouri, and pushing m on for the new land, of which such
promising accounts were given by returning trappers, was
resolved, if possible, to imitate their example, and, like
them, better his condition. Pat had energy and ambition
sufficient for any undertaking ; but to get over between two
and three thousand miles of ground, and with provisions
enough to support life on the journey, required such ordi-
nary appliances as a waggon, a team of oxen, and other
matters, all entirely beyond Pat's reach. What was he to
do? Go he would, but how? As a landsman offers to
work his passage in a ship, so did Pat Clark proffer his
services as a teamster. He was willing to feed himself,
and he would not demand a cent for his services. But no
one required his services, or would have them. Pat was
checked, not defeated ; : go he was resolved, though he had

PAT CLARK. BUT ONE MORMON. 2C9

to trudge every step of the weary way. And this he very
nearly did. He purchased a hand-cart, in which he placed
his blankets, some flour, bacon, and a few other neces-
saries, and manfully set out on his tremendous journey,
now pushing before him, now dragging after him, his
hand-cart with his precious stock of provisions ; and in this
manner he had actually traversed 1,800 miles, when he was
overtaken by some compassionate traveller on the same
route, who gave the poor foot-sore but brave-hearted
Irishman a lift in his waggon, and enabled him to accom-
plish the remainder of his journey in a manner the comfort
of which he could keenly appreciate. The Meath man
settled down on Cache Creek, and was soon independent.
Irishmen of his stamp cannot fail in what they undertake.

There was in the year 1847 a migration of a peculiar
character, in which the Irish had a very small share indeed.
The ship ' Brooklyn ' arrived at San Francisco in the sum-
mer of that year, with 150 Mormons, composed principally
of English, Scotch, and Welsh, with a few Americans. Of
the whole number one was an Irishman— a young fellow
named Fergusson, said to be from Waterford. The party
pushed on to the Salt Lake, the single Irishman going
with them. 'What his end in this life was, or may be, is
uncertain/ says the friend who mentions the arrival of the
ship and its godly, freight. From this arrival California
gained nothing ; but the same year came Stevenson's re-
giment of New York Volunteers, who held possession of
the country" until it was ceded by treaty to the United
States ; and of this regiment not a few of the Irish officers
and privates remained in California, and in time became
distinguished citizens of the new State.

Shortly after was the headlong rush to the recently dis-
covered gold-fields, causing an immediate and immense
accession to the population. In this headlong rush came
Irishmen, not only from Ireland, but from every part of
the States ; from Mexico as well as the British provinces,

270 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

from Australia equally as from England and Scotland.
Animated by the same passion, impelled by the same thirst
for gain, all nationalities were merged in one great con-
fusion of races and tongues ; while in the universal scramble
for gold, every social distinction was trampled under foot,
individual superiority depending, not on good breeding or
intellectual cultivation, but on the greater capacity for la-
bour, or the tougher power of endurance. For a time at
least, simple manhood carried the day against all artificial
gradations in the social hierarchy ; the hodman and the
doctor, the labourer and the lawyer, standing upon exactly
the same level, provided that the doctor and the lawyer
happened to be endowed with thews and sinews as strong
and as serviceable as those of his brother gold-seekers, the
hodman and the labourer. In such a competition there
was a glorious chance for the humblest or most recently-
arrived of the Irish new-comers. With the pick and the
shovel they were a match for any workers under the sun,
and their luck was on the average as fortunate as that of
others. It was a fair start, and no favour — just what best
suits the true Irishman : and the result at this moment is,
that one-half, or nearly one-half, of the entire mining pro-
perty of the country is in the hands of Irishmen or the
sons of Irishmen. The mine known as the Allison Ranch,
which is considered to be one of the richest in the world,
and which last year employed between 500 and 600 workers,
is owned by five Irishmen and an American.

Fortunately for their ultimate and permanent success,
many Irishmen either failed in their mining opera-
tions, became dissatisfied with the wearisome monotony oi
the daily drudgery, or desired to engage in some more
lucrative employment ; and they wisely turned their at-
tention to what was more certain to reward steady industry
— the cultivation of the soil. The moment, too, was singu-
larly propitious. During the height of the gold fever,
when the one pursuit absorbed almost every thought, all

THE IRISH WISELY SETTLE ON THE LAND. 271

kinds of garden produce were sold at fabulous prices ; and
even in a year or two after, 12 or 15 cents for a pound of
potatoes was regarded as a moderate price for that essential
article of food. The hourly increasing demand for the
produce of the field and the garden imparted a wonderful
stimulus to agricultural industry, to which the Irish
brought both energy and experience. When they had
made money in the mines, they purchased a convenient
piece of land, and soon rendered it productive and profit-
able ; or had they been unlucky in their hunt after the
precious metal, they hired themselves as farm hands, and
being paid enormous wages — wages which would render
high farming in Europe an utter impossibility — they in a
short time accumulated sufficient capital to purchase land
for themselves. Employment was to be had in every
direction by those who were willing to work ; and none
were more willing than the Irish. Everything had to be
built up, literally created — cities and towns as well as
communities. Labour, which is not estimated at its true
value in older countries, where the great work has long
since been accomplished, and in which society has its
grades and classes and distinctions, was highly prized and
reverently regarded in California ; for without it nothing
could be done, where everything had to be done ; and the
humble Irishman laid the foundation of his own fortunes
while rendering to the infant State services which were
priceless in their value. Happily, the cities and towns
did not seduce the Irish from their legitimate sphere, and
the dollars made in the mine, or in ditching and digging,
or in hard toil of various kinds, were converted into land ;
and indeed with such success did they pursue this sound
policy — which it would be well for the race were it more
extensively adopted in America — that the one-fourth of
the farming of the State of California is in the hands of
Irishmen. This is remarkably so in the counties of Santa
Clara, San Joaquin, Marin, Sonoma, Almeda', Contra

272 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Costa, and Santa Cruz. As agriculturists and stock-raisers,
the Irish are the leaders in almost every county in the
State, more particularly those counties lying on the sea-
coast and adjacent to the bay and waters of San Francisco.

Inasmuch as it is more interesting to note what the
humble man — the Irish peasant — has done through his
unaided industry, than what the gentleman has accom-
plished through the possession of capital, or with the
advantages of education, an instance of this nature may be
mentioned.

There are two townships in Marin county— Tumalis and
San Rafael — largely owned and occupied by Irish. The
former of these is as extensive and as rich as any tract
of land in the State, and is almost .exclusively possessed
by Irishmen, nearly all of whom a few years ago were
labourers, working for monthly wages on the ranches of
the old proprietors, or delving in the mines. They worked
and they delved until they saved enough to purchase a
piece of land ; and now these men, who at home were
poor peasants, and, perhaps, would have been little better
had they1 remained in the old country, are the proprietors
of estates ranging from 160 to 1,000 acres of the best land
in California ! Here are three Irishmen, two of them
' boys ' from Tipperary, who in 1850 worked on Anally
Ranch ; one of these is the owner of 800 acres of land in
Tumalis, well-stocked and cultivated ; and the Tipperary
boys are rich farmers/ and surrounded with every comfort.
There are, and will be, among the children of these suc-
cessful settlers those whose special genius, or whose bent
of mind will naturally lead them to the city and its
pursuits ; but their parents adopted the wisest and safest
course for themselves and their descendants — they planted
themselves on the soil, and thus laid the foundations of a
prosperous and independent race. Many of our people
are, from special aptitude, knowledge or experience, best
suited to a town life, where alone they may find employ-

HOW THEY SUCCEEDED IN THE CITIES. 273

ment for their trained skill, or a suitable field for their
talents ; but the vast majority of those who leave their
native country for America, were born on the land, were
reared on the land, were employed on the land ; and the
land is the right place for them, whether in America or at
home.

We may now see what the Irish have done in the cities
of California. San Francisco, the most famous of the
fair cities of the United States, will suffice as an illustration
of the position and progress of the children of Erin. It is
rather a singular coincidence that an Irishman, Jasper
O'Farrell, laid out the city which his countrymen did so
much to build up ; and that in 1850, while ah1 was still in
chaos and confusion, and license was the order of the day,
another Irishman, Malachi Fallon, was called on by a vote
of the assembled citizens to leave his position at the
mines, and assume the administration of the police affairs
of the city ; which he did with admitted success. It was
two Irishmen — James and Peter Donahue — that erected
the first foundry in San Francisco, which enterprise led to
the rapid increase of mechanical industry. The same
firm projected the gas works ; and with such success was
this important undertaking crowned, that the stock of the
Company has increased to six million dollars. The same
firm erected the largest hotel in the city, at a cost of more
than half a million. The first street railway — from the
City to the Mission of Dolores — was projected by an Irish-
man, Col. Thomas Hayes. Among the private bankers of
San Francisco, Donahue, Kelly & Co. take the lead ; their
firm, established in 1864, does a larger amount of business
than that of Kothschild, which dates as far back as 1849.
But a still more interesting item — the first public donation
to a charitable purpose was made by two distinguished
Irishmen, Don Timoteo Murphy, and Jasper O'Farrell,
who ' donated ' the lot of ground now occupied by the
Orphan Asylum, and which is at present worth 200,000

274 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

dollars. The greatest ovation ever offered by the citizens
to an indivdual was given to John G. Downey, an Irish-
man, who for two years ably filled the office of Governor
of the State. Irishmen held a prominent position in the
convention by which the constitution was formed ; and in
both branches of the Legislature Irishmen, or the sons of
Irishmen, are to be found. Among the largest holders of
city property, the most extensive merchants, the most suc-
cessful men of business, the ablest engineers, the most
accomplished architects, and the most reliable contractors,
are Irishmen ; and in all branches of the legal profession,
whether practising in chamber, or in civil or criminal
business in courts, Irishmen enjoy an enviable repute.*
In fact, as soon as society, which, from the special circum-
stances of the country, had been in a somewhat chaotic
state, settled down into its ordinary grooves, the Irish took
their place among the foremost in the battle of life ; and
in its eager struggle for wealth and distinction they held
their own with their co-labourers of every other nationality.
It may be questioned if in any part of the Union the
Irish of the working classes are better off in all respects
than they are in San Francisco. The immense and con-
tinuous employment, as well as the liberal rate of remune-
ration, have had much to do with this ; but the thrifty
habits and admirable conduct, of the Irish is the happy
result equally attributable. Though wages of all kinds are
liberal at present, and employment is constantly to be
obtained for the greater portion of the year, still the rate
of remuneration is not equal to what it was when the work
to be done was more pressing, the hands to do it were

* Among the lawyers of Irish birth may be mentioned Messrs. Doyle, Caaserley,
Byrne, and Delany. The last-mentioned gentleman — Charles M'Carthy Delany
—is brother to the Right Rev. Dr. Delany, Catholic Bishop of Cork. Mr. Delany's
practice chiefly lies in conveyancing ; and I have been informed, on the authority
of persons of great experience, as old residents in California, that although an
enormous amount of property has passed through his hands, in his professional
capacity, not a dollar has ever been lost to his clients either through erroneous
advice, or from a flaw or defect in the titles which he made out.

SUCCESSFUL THRIFT. IRISH GIRLS. 275

fewer, and the mines attracted almost universal attention.
From 1849 to 1853 skilled labour ranged from 6 to 10
dollars a day, while unskilled labour commanded from 3
to 5 dollars a day. Washing was then as high as 6 dollars
per dozen ! Women in domestic employment were paid
at from 50 to 70 dollars a month. From wages such as
these it was not difficult for an industrious and economical
person to save money. Many did so, and bought lots on
the outskirts of the town, which soon extended in every
direction, and so enhanced the value of the property thus
honourably obtained, as to render its owners rich without
any further exertion on their part. I am happy to know
of many, many instances of such successful thrift and fore-
thought on the part of Irishmen in every part of the
United States, and also in the British Provinces.

Mechanics now earn from 4 to 5 dollars, while labourers
receive from 2 to 3 dollars a day. This, taking the present
value of the dollar, would be, on an average, 14s. Qd. a day
for the mechanic, and 8s. a day for the labourer. Being
so amply remunerated, almost every working-man, whether
mechanic, labourer, or drayman, owns the house in which
he lives, and the lot on which it stands. Different indeed
from the state of things in New York, where the well-paid
mechanic, who but rarely owns the house in which he lives,
has to pay 100 or 120 dollars a year for two or three rooms
in a tenement house. Women servants receive. from 20
to 40 dollars a month, according to their occupation or
proficiency, or the class of people in whose houses they
reside.

If any further proof were required of the condition of
the Irish in San Francisco, it is to be had in the facts
connected with the Hibernian Savings' Bank and Loan
Society, now nearly completing its eighth year of useful-
ness. The deposits in this bank to January 21, 1867, were
5,241,000 dollars. I perceive by the returns for 1866 that
the depositors receive interest at the rate of eleven per cent.,

276 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and that the earnings that year amounted to 244,000 dols.
But it is more important to learn that seven-eighths of the
depositors are Irish, and that of the amount deposited by
the Irish fully three-fourths belong to the working classes,
including mechanics, labourers, and girls in various em-
ployments.

Of the Irish girls in America I have spoken elsewhere;
but any notice of the race in San Francisco, in which
special mention of the Irish girls of that city was not made,
would be most incomplete. They form a considerable and
valuable portion of its population, and are deservedly
esteemed by all classes of its citizens. They are industrious,
intelligent, faithful, generous, high-spirited, and intensely
devoted to their religion, of which they are the proudest
ornaments and best examples. So jiistly esteemed are
these Irish girls for purity and honour, that some 2,000 of
them have been well married — fully half of that number
to men of substance and good position. It may be re-
marked that a considerable number of them had been
tenderly reared at home, where they received a fair
education ; but driven by circumstances to emigrate, they
were of necessity obliged to accept even the humblest
situations in a foreign land. They soon, however, rose
above the lowly condition which they dignified by their
intelligence and worth, and found in an honourable
marriage ample compensation for all their former trials.
It is estimated that seventy-five per cent, of the Irish girls
in domestic employment in San Francisco can read fairly,
while more than fifty per cent, can both write and read well.
The rate of wages for domestic employment ranges from
20 to 40 dollars a month. The average would come to
60Z. a year. Out of this income they save a certain
portion, indulge their Celtic love of finery, gratify their
charitable and religious instincts by generous contributions
to church, to convent, to orphanage, and to asylum ; and
the balance is devoted to the two-fold purpose, with them

THE CHURCH IN SAN FRANCISCO. 277

almost equally sacred — to assist their parents or aged
relatives in the old country, or bring out a brother or a
sister to their adopted home. It is calculated by those
who have every means of ascertaining the fact, that the
Irish girls employed in San Francisco annually remit to
Ireland, for the purposes stated, the sum of 270,000
dollars! What eulogium can equal the mere mention of
this fact ?

Whatever religious indifferentism there may be in other
parts of America, there is none in San Francisco among
its Irish Catholic population. In their hard struggle for
the good things of this life they did not forget their inter-
ests in the»next ; and such was the liberality with which they
co-operated with the zeal of their pastors, that, in little
more than a dozen years after the new city began to rise
above the huts and shanties that once occupied its site, the
church property, including buildings and real estate, was
valued at 2,010,000 dollars. This includes the cathedral
and five other churches, convents, asylums, and hospitals.
Giving Catholics of other nationalities full credit for their
liberality, and allowing for the generous assistance afforded
by those of different denominations, it is admitted that
three-fourths of what has been done for the Church in the
city and county of San Francisco has been done by the
Irish. In fact, without them little could have been done ;
but with them everything was possible. It is superfluous
to state that the Irish women of San Francisco are famous
for their piety and zeal for religion — that, indeed, is
characteristic of the race throughout America ; but it has
been particularly remarked by those who have had oppor-
tunities of observation in many of the States, that in few
places, if in any, did they notice a greater number of men,
in the prime of life, and actively engaged in the pursuits of
business, so constant in the performance of their religious
duties, as penitents in the confessional, and communicants
at the altar, than in this noble city. With every charit-

278 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

able and benevolent undertaking men of this class are
instinctively identified, either as leaders and promoters, or
as zealous and liberal supporters ; and should they shrink
from a position too prominent for their modesty, they more
than compensate for their sensitiveness by the abundance
of their generosity.

As an evidence of the progress and present position of
the Irish in San Francisco, a few significant items might
be quoted from the record of the Assessor of Taxes ; but it
is sufficient to state that, with the exception of four others,
not Irish, six Irishmen are the highest rated of its citizens.
One fact, however, renders further details unnecessary—
namely, that while the Irish constitute the one-fourth of
the population of San Francisco, or 30,000 out of 120,000,
they are considered to possess one-fourth of the entire
property of the city, or 20,000,000 out of 80,000,000 of
dollars. And yet of every 100 Irish who came to San
Francisco, as to California generally, 75 were either poor
or scantily provided with means. Few, indeed, brought
any money capital with them, but they had energy, in-
dustry, with capacity for all kinds of work ; and though
they came from a country in which enterprise had little
existence, and industry not at all times a fair field or a
right reward, these men and women of Irish race soon
caught the spirit of the American — the right spirit for a
new country, the genuine ' G-o-ahead ' — that which always
looks forward and never looks back.

"With the mention of a single case — of an Irishman
who was certainly one of the seventy-five per cent, who
brought with them to the land of gold but little of the
world's goods — I may usefully conclude this sketch of the
Irish in California. It may be given in the words of my
informant, a gentleman who left Ireland for America in
1849. He says : * There is one circumstance in connection
with my coming to America that has always, and will
always, give me great pleasure. I mention it with a view

WHAT A POOR IRISHMAN CAN DO. 279

to enable you to judge of what a poor Irishman can ac-
complish in this country with a fair field before him. About
the time I was making up my mind to come to California,
I was then engaged in building some public works in
the town of Sligo. I had then in my employment, and
for a short time before, a confidential labouring man.
At that time he had a wife and six children in the poor-
house in Tullamore, in the King's County, to which he
belonged, having been dispossessed of a small piece of
land in that neighbourhood. When I mentioned to him
that I was going to California, he fell on his knees and
implored me to take him with me. I was at first thunder-
struck at the idea of his willingness to leave his family,
and go to so distant a country, and I so expressed myself
to him. But he answered me — " If I remain here, I lose
my employment, and I, too, must go into the poor-house,
and then all hope is over." I felt too keenly the truth of
his reply. I could make no further objection, and I told
him I would take him with me. In a year after his arrival
in this country he sent home money, took his family out of
the work-house, and sent his children to school. They are
all now here, his daughters well married, his sons in good
situations, and the old couple, with two of their younger
children, born in California, living in a comfortable way on
a good farm, from which no bailiff can eject them. The sim-
ple statement of the history of this family speaks volumes,
in my mind, of what the Irish can do in America.

In this language speaks another Irishman, a Californian
resident of long standing, whose name is held in merited
respect by all who know him : ' Thus, in general with but
a poor beginning, in a manner friendless, strangers in a
strange land, have our people struggled and fought, and
been victorious. Their bones will lie far away from the
hallowed dust of their kindred ; yet every mountain, hill-
side, and valley in this favoured land will give evidence to
posterity of their toil, enterprise, and success. Their foot-

280 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

prints, marking the genius and traditions of their race, their
love and veneration of the old faith, and the old country
from which they were such unwilling exiles, shall endure in
the land for ever.'

As this sheet was going through the press, my attention
was attracted by an article in the Monitor of San Francisco,
from which I quote the concluding passage, written, as I
believe, in the right spirit : —

4 It is our interest to have as many of our countrymen here as possible ;
and, moreover, we honestly believe no other country holds out such advan-
tages for their coming. They have not the prejudices of race or religious
bigotry, which exist in some parts of the East, to contend with ; unskilled
labour is more respected here than there, and finally, the natural resources
of the country are greater, and the population less dense than in any of
the Atlantic States. Why cannot the Irishmen of this city form a society
for diffusing a knowledge of California's resources among our country-
men, and communicating with employers throughout the State, for secu-
ring immediate employment on their arrival. We almost feel a scruple
about encouraging emigration from poor depopulated Ireland, where the
fortunes of our race have yet to be retrieved ; but in England and Scot-
land there are nearly a million of Irishmen from whose ranks we could
easily obtain an annual immigration of many thousands by a system such
as that we have just proposed. We know by experience the state of feel-
ing existing among our countrymen in Europe, and we believe that by a
plan such as we have described, an immense Irish population could be
drawn here, to both their own and our advantage. The Irish of Califor-
nia are wealthy and liberal, and surely such a society as the one we have
proposed, could be easily started among them. We hope our suggestions
may turn the attention of some of them to the practical development of
Irish immigration from England and the Eastern cities.'

CHAPTER XTV.

Drink more injurious to the Irish than to others— Why this is so—-
Archbishop Spalding's testimony — Drink and Politics— Temper-
ance Organisations— Hope in the Future.

rRE I asked to say what I believed to be the most
serious obstacle to the advancement of the Irish in
America, I would unhesitatingly answer — Drink; meaning
thereby the excessive use, or abuse, of that which, when
taken in excess, intoxicates, deprives man of his reason,
interferes with his industry, injures his health, damages
his position, compromises his respectability, renders him
unfit for the successful exercise of his trade, profession, or
employment — which leads to quarrel, turbulence, violence,
crime. I believe this fatal tendency to excessive indul-
gence to be the main cause of all the evils and miseries
and disappointments that have strewed the great cities of
America with those wrecks of Irish honour, Irish virtue,
and Irish promise, which every lover of Ireland has had,
one time or other, bitter cause to deplore. Differences
of race and religion are but as a feather's weight in the
balance ; indeed these differences tend rather to add in-
terest to the steady and self-respecting citizen. Were
this belief, as to the tendency of the Irish to excess in the
use of stimulants, based on the testimony of Americans,
who might probably be somewhat prejudiced, and therefore
inclined to judge unfavourably, or pronounce \insparingly,
I should not venture to record it ; but it was impressed
upon me by Irishmen of every rank, class, and condition

282 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of life, wherever I went, North or South, East or West.
It was openly deplored, or it was reluctantly admitted. I
rarely heard an Irishman say that his country or his
religion was an effectual barrier to his progress in the
United States. On the contrary, the universal admission
was this : * Any man, no matter who he is, what country
' he comes from, or what religion he professes, can get on
'here, if he is determined to do so ; and he will be
'respected by Americans, if he will only respect himself.
' If the Irishman is a sober man, there is no fear of him —
' he cannot fail of success ; but if he is too fond of the drink,
'it is all up with him — he is sure to fail.' Expressed in
these simple words, this is the matured and deliberate
verdict of every experienced or observant Irishman, from
the most exalted dignitary of the Catholic Church to the
humblest workman who maintains his family in comfort
by his honest toil.

The question here naturally arises, — do the Irish drink
more than the people of any other nationality in America ?
The result of my observation and inquiries leads me to
the conviction that they do not. How then comes it that
the habit, if common to all, is so pernicious to them?
There are many and various reasons why this is ^so. In
the first place, they are strangers, and, as such, more
subject to observation and criticism than the natives of the
country. They are, also, as a rule, of a faith different to
that of the majority of the American people ; and the fact
that they are so does not render the observation less keen,
nor does it render the criticism more gentle. Then, be it
constitution, or temperament, or whatever else, excess
seems to be more injurious to them than to others. They
are genial, open-hearted, generous, and social in their
tendencies ; they love company, court excitement, and
delight in affording pleasure or gratification to their
friends. And not only are their very virtues leagued

DRINK MORE INJURIOUS TO IRISH THAN OTHERS. 283

against them, but the prevailing custom of the country is
a perpetual challenge to indulgence.

This prevailing custom or habit springs more from a
spirit of kindness than from a craving for sensual grati-
fication. Invitations to drink are universal, as to rank and
station, time and place, hour and circumstance ; they lit-
erally rain upon you. The Americans are perhaps about
the most thoroughly wide-awake people in the world, yet
they must have an ' eye-opener ' in the morning. To pre-
pare for meals, you are requested to fortify your stomach
and stimulate your digestive powers with an 'appetizer.'
To get along in the day, you are invited to acccept the
assistance of a 'pony.' If you are startled at the mention
of 'a drink,' you find it difficult to refuse 'at least a nip.'
And who but the most morose — and the Irishman is all
geniality — can resist the influence of 'a smile?' Now
a 'cocktail,' now a 'cobler' — here a 'julep,' there a
'smasher;' or if you shrink from the potency of the
'Bourbon,' you surely are not afraid of 'a single glass of
lager beer!' To the generous, company-loving Irishman
there is something like treason to friendship and death to
good-fellowship in refusing these kindly-meant invitations ;
but woe to the impulsive Irishman who becomes the victim
of this custom of the country ! The Americans drink, the
Germans drink, the Scotch drink, the English drink — all
drink with more or less injury to their health or circum-
stances ; but whatever the injury to these, or any of these,
it is far greater to the mercurial and light-hearted Irish
than, to races of hard head and lethargic temperament.
The Irishman is by nature averse to solitary or selfish in-
dulgence— he will not 'boose' in secret, or make himself
drunk from a mere love of liquor ; with him the indulgence
is the more fascinating when it enhances the pleasures of
friendship, and imparts additional zest to the charms of
social intercourse. In his desire to gratify his friends, and

284 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

stand well with his acquaintances, he is too likely to over-
look the claims of those at home — the wife and children,
who are the sufferers, if others are the gainers which is
very questionable — from his generosity and his geniality.

It must be admitted that, in some cities of America
— by no means in all, or anything like all — the Irish
element figures unenviably in the police records, and
before the inferior tribunals ; and that in these cities the
committals are more numerous than they should be in pro-
portion to the numerical strength of the Irish population.
This is undoubtedly the case in some instances. But,
painful as this fact is to the pride of those who love and
honour their country, it is not without a consolatory fea-
ture—namely, {he character of the offences for which the
Irish are made amenable to the law. These offences are
irritating to the sensitiveness of the orderly, the decorous,
and the law-abiding — to those whose position in life
raises them above the region in which such offences have
their origin — and they are damaging to the reputation of
those by whom they are committed ; but they are not of
a heiaaous nature— not such as cause a shudder to the
heart and a chill to the blood. The deadly crimes — the
secret poisonings, the deliberate murders, the deep-laid
frauds, the cunningly-masked treachery, the dark villany,
the spider-like preparation for the destruction of the un-
wary victim^-these are not common to the Irish. Kows,
riots, turbulence, acts of personal violence perpetrated in
passion, are what are principally recorded of them in the
newspapers ; and in nine cases out of ten, these offences
against the peace and order of the community, and which
so deeply prejudice the public mind, not only against the
perpetrators, but, wUfat is far worse, against the irrace and
country, are attributable to one cause, and one cause alone
— drink. The American may drink from morning to
night without injury to his country, without peril to his
nationality; the German may snore himself into insensi-

ARCHBISHOP SPALDING'S TESTIMONY. 285

bility in a deluge of lager beer, without doing dishonour
to Faderland; the Englishman and the Scotchman may
indulge to excess — as both do indulge to excess — without
compromising England or Scotland thereby; but the
Irishman, more impulsive, more mercurial, more excit-
able, will publish his indiscretion on the highway, and
will himself identify his nationality with his folly. Were
it possible to induce Irishmen, if not to abandon drink al-
together, which is not at all likely or probable, at least to
be moderate in its use, the result would be a blessed one.
It were impossible to imagine any result more blessed,
more glorious. It would lift up the Irish race in America
as with a miraculous power, simply because Irishmen
would then have an opportunity of exhibiting, without flaw
or blemish, those qualities which, whenever they are
allowed fair play, excite the admiration and win the affec-
tions of the American people.

A dozen years since, while the Know Nothing fury
raged through the country, and Irish Catholics, especially
the multitudes of emigrants who were then pouring into
the States in numbers sufficient to inflame the jealousy of
certain classes of Americans, were fiercely assailed from
pulpit, press, and platform, the venerable Archbishop
Spalding thus wrote, in answer to the charges made against
them :*—

But (it is said) the Irish emigrants are vicious and immoral. That
a portion of them have their faults — grievous and glaring faults — we
do not deny ; but all firm and impartial men will admit that the
charge made against them as a body is obviously unjust. They have
their faults, which are paraded and greatly exaggerated by the public
press ; but they have also their virtues, which are studiously kept out
of view. TJhey have their faults ; but have not the corresponding
class in our own population their vices also as great, if not greater,
than those of the class which is now singled out as the victims of a
virtuous public indignation? They have their vices, but these are

* Introductory Address to Archbishop Spalding's '.Miscellanea,.' John Murphy
and Co., Baltimore.

286 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

often faults of the head more than of the heart ; of imprudence and
thoughtlessness more than of deliberate design and malice. If you
look for the accomplished forger, the cold-blooded midnight assassin or
murderer, the man who goes always armed with the destructive bowie-
knife or revolver, ready for any deed of blood, you will in general have
to seek elsewhere tnan among the class of Irish emigrants ichom you so
fiercely denounce.

The Irishman's vices are generally the result of intemperance, or of
the sudden heat of passion, sometimes aroused by outrages upon his
country or religion; he is easily misled by evil associates, but his heart
is generally in the right place. The Irishman has no concealment in his
character ; what he is, he is openly and before the world.

Since the Archbishop wrote, events have greatly modi-
fied the feelings then entertained towards the Irishman and
his creed ; but the enemy of the Irishman's own creation,
and his own fostering, is as rampant and as deadly as ever.

The 'liquor business' is most pernicious, either directly
or indirectly, to the Irish. Requiring little capital, at least
to commence with, the Irish rush into it ; and the temp-
tation to excess which it offers is often more than the
virtue of the proprietor of the business can withstand. If
the evil were confined to the individual himself, the result
would be a matter of comparatively trifling consequence :
but the Irishman attracts the Irishman to his saloon or his
bar, and so the evil spreads. Almost invariably the lowest
class of groggery or liquor-store — that which supplies the
most villanous and destructive mixtures to its unfortunate
customers — is planted right in the centre of the densely-
crowded Irish quarter of a great city ; while too often the
name on the sign-board acts as a fatal lure to those who
quaff ruin or death in the maddening bowl. In America,
as in Ireland, there are men in the trade who are a credit
to their country, indeed an honour to humanity — generous,
high-spirited, charitable and religious, who are foremost in
every good work, and who are never appealed to in vain in
any cause of public usefulness ; but, on the other hand, there
are others whose connection with it is injurious to them-

DRINK AND POLITICS. 287

selves and prejudicial to their countrymen. The bad
liquor of the Native American or the Dutchman is far less
perilous to poor Pat than what is sold by the bar-keeper
whose name has in it a flavour of the shamrock. A feeling
of clanship, if not a spirit of nationality, operates as an
additional inducement to the Irishman, who probably
requires little incentive to excess, beyond his own craving
for momentary enjoyment and dangerous excitement.
Here, too, the working man is seduced into that most
tempting, yet most fatal of all moral maelstroms — the
whirlpool of pothouse politics, in whose accursed depths of
mud and mire many a bright hope has been wrecked,
many a soul lost. Here, fascinated by the coarse Sirens —
Drink and Politics — many an Irishman, fitted by nature
for better things, has first become a tool, then a slave,
then a victim ; helping to build up the fortunes of some
worthless fellow on his own ruin, and sacrificing the
legitimate gain of honest industry for the expectation of
some paltry office, which, miserable at best, ever eludes
his desperate clutch. It requires no little moral courage
on the part of the eager and impulsive Irishman to avoid
being entangled in the fatal meshes of the pothouse and its
politics ; yet if he has the good fortune to resist the temp-
tation, or the energy to break through the toils, he is
amply rewarded in his safety and independence. An
enlightened interest in public affairs becomes the freeman ;
thankless drudgery and inevitable debasement are only
worthy of the willing slave.

Formerly there were inducements to excess which either
no longer exist, or do not exist to the same extent as they
did. The principal inducement was the low cost of
whisky. Even of the best quality, it was so cheap as to
be within the means of the poorest; while whisky of an
inferior, and therefore more deleterious description, was
to be had at a price almost nominal. And with this
poisonous stuff — this rot to the entrails and devil to the

288 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

brain — many thousands of Irishmen were deliberately slain
by contractors engaged in certain public works. The sooner
the task was done the more profit to the contractor. It was
a free country, and the white man could not be made to
work against his will ; but advantage was taken of his
weakness, and with red-hot whisky the liberal contractor
lashed and goaded the toiler to superhuman efforts — before
which the embankment grew up, and the huge earth-
mound vanished, and the great ditch widened and deep-
ened, as if with the celerity of magic ; but ere that work
was done — ere the train rattled along the iron highway,
the boat floated in the canal, or the ship was moored in the
dock — there were widows and orphans to mourn the
victims of a fatal weakness, and the reckless greed and
wicked cruelty of their taskmasters.

Instigated by the devil whisky, the old insane and
meaningless jealousies broke out — not the Catholic against
the Protestant — not the Green against the Orange ; but
Munster against Connaught, and Connemara against Cork.
And out of these shameful feuds sprang riots, and blood-
shed, and murder, as well as deep national scandal. The
Catholic Church spared no exertions to avert this evil, and
put an end to a cause of such just reproach; but though
immense good was done, and much evil prevented, the
active devil was at times too potent for its mild authority.
Happily, these are things of the past, which must yet
be remembered with a blush of sorrow and of shame.

If, even still, there is much to deplore, there is more to
rejoice at. Not only are the vast majority of Irishmen in
all parts of America as sober and temperate in their habits
as any men to be found in any community or country, but
in many parts of the United States the Irish enjoy the
reputation of being' among the best, the most orderly, and
the most sober portion of the population. And where this
happy state of things exists, the Irish of the working-classes
are sure to possess property, to have their * house and lot/

TEMPERANCE ORGANISATION. 289

and to be frugal, thrifty, and saving. Nor, as I can testify,
are the Irish without meeting with ready and generous
appreciation from Americans of long descent. ' The Irish
here, sir, are amongst our best citizens; they are sober
and industrious, moral, orderly, and law-abiding — sir, they
are a credit to their native country.' This testimony I
was proud to hear in various States. But, unhappily, in
some of the large cities, the evil habit of the minority
casts a certain amount of discredit, however unjustly, on
their Irish populations.

In every large city and in most of the considerable towns
of America there is a temperance organisation, which offers
the usual advantages to those who belong to it. On Mon-
day, March 18th, I had an admirable opportunity of wit-
nessing the display made by the temperance societies of
New York ; and rarely did I behold a spectacle which was
in itself so cheering and consolatory, or of which I felt
more truly proud. In the hey-day of the temperance move-
ment in Ireland I had more than once seen processions
quite as brilliant and imposing, after their fashion, as that
which I scanned with eager scrutiny in New York. There
was therefore nothing novel in the display, whether in its
banners, its decorations, its music, or even its numbers.
What did delight me — what I know delighted others, who,
like myself, had a national interest in the festival of the
day — was to witness so large a body of Irishmen, and the
children of Irishmen, presenting in the face of the Ameri-
can people a striking and beneficial example of courage
and good sense to their own race; in a city, too, which
probably has within it more of risk and danger to sobriety
than any other city in the States. Their dress was admir-
able, even conspicuous where respectability of attire was
the rule ; and there was that in their air and manner and
carriage which elicited universal admiration, and deeply
gratified the Irishmen — many of them the most eminenL
in the city — by whom, on that occasion, I happened to be

13

290 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

surrounded. In that enormous procession, roughly esti-
mated, at 30,000 persons, men and boys, there were
thousands of sober self-respecting men who were not
members of a temperance organisation — not * teetotallers :'
but there were also, I must admit, not a few who displayed
in their maundering looks and tottering gait an over-zealous
devotion to the Patron Saint of their native land.

I was much amused at receiving a letter from an influ-
ential member of one of the most prosperous of the
temperance societies of New York, in which the writer
proudly claimed for his body prominent distinction, on
these very cogent grounds — that not only had they a con-
siderable number of . members belonging to their society,
but that their members owned more property, had more
money in the bank and in profitable investments ; had
built more houses, and of a superior description ; had
educated their children better, and advanced them more
successfully in life, and held a higher social position, than
the members of any other society in New York ; though
the writer had no notion of disparaging any of them what-
ever. Here was a volume of sermons embodied in these
few words ; and being the words of a good Irishman, I
commend them to his countrymen wherever they may be.

I was thus addressed in a Western city by an Irishman
who is himself a credit to his country. Upright, intelli-
gent, and self-respecting, he is one of those men, of
whom there are thousands in America, who would not
compromise the national honour in his own person for
any earthly consideration. He said :

'I have one request to make of you, and I am certain
you will comply with my humble but earnest prayer : and
that is, to place before the eyes of the poor intending
emigrant, as of those who have their interest at heart, and
whose advice is likely to be taken by our people, the terrible
dangers of intemperance in this country. Implore of them,
in the name of everything pure and lovely in Heaven and

HOPE IN THE FUTURE. 291

on earth, to make up their minds, as good Christians, to
leave off the use of intoxicating drinks before starting for
this country — otherwise they are not wanted here. Let
them stay at home, wherex even if of dissipated habits,
they can meet some good Samaritan who will extend to
them the hand of friendship in distress ; for here the man
inclined to drink will meet with nothing but bad whisky
and a pauper's grave, and not one to say "Lord have
mercy upon him ! " This is my request of you, and I make
it in the interest of our common country, because I have
too good reason to know that drink is the bane of our
people.'

With the influence of sound religious teaching, whose
tendency leads to self-government and control — the influ-
ence of the Church, which is every day drawing her
children more within the reach of her salutary authority —
the influence of organisations through which even the de-
spairing outcast may learn a lesson of hope, of moral and
social redemption, — with these influences steadily acting on
the Irish in America, we may look with confidence to the
wiping away of a reproach which is due to the folly and
madness of the few rather than of the many ; as also to the
removal from the path of the Irishman of one of the most
fatal obstacles to his advancement in a country for which
he is eminently suited by qualities that, if not marred or
perverted by this one terrible vice, must lead him to suc-
cess in every walk and department of life, whether public
or private.

292 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XV.

Poor Irish Gentility— Honest labour— The Miller's son— Well-
earned Success — No poor Irish Gentility here — A self-made Man
— How he became a Master Baker — The Irish don't do them-
selves Justice— How they are regarded— Scotch Irish.

niHEEE is another evil which overtakes Irishmen of a
X certain class in the new world ; it may be called the
Micauber evil — 'waiting for something to turn up.' The
delay of a week may be the destruction of the young man
who comes out to America with the highest hopes of doing
something, he knows not what, and getting on, he knows
not how. In mere delay there is danger quite sufficient ;
but woe to him if he bring with him the faded gentility of
poor Ireland to a country utterly without sympathy for such
threadbare nonsense. The Irishman who brings with him
across the ocean this miserable weakness travels with the
worst possible compagnon de voyage. In America there
is no disgrace in honest labour. It was labour that made
America what she is ; it is labour that will make her what
she is destined to be — the mightiest power of the earth.
But that pestilent Irish gentility, which has never appre-
ciated, perhaps never could appreciate, this grand truth ;
that Irish gentility, the poorest and proudest, the most
sensitive and the most shamefaced, of all such wretched
shams — that weakness of indigenous growth has brought
many a young Irishman to grief and shame. Advised,
by those who knew America well, to 'take anything'
or to 'do anything' that offered, poor Irish gentility
could not stoop to employment against which its high

HONEST LABOUR. 293

stomached pride revolted — poor Irish gentility was ' never
used to that kind of thing at home ; ' so poor Irish gentil-
ity wandered hopelessly about, looking in vain for what
would suit its notions of respectability; until poor Irish
gentility found itself with linen soiled, hat battered, clothes
seedy, boots unreliable, and spirits 'depressed — so down,
fatally down, poor Irish gentility sank, until there was not
strength or energy to accept the work that offered; and
poor Irish gentility faded away in some dismal garret or
foul cellar, and dropped altogether out of sight, into the
last receptacle of poor gentilities — the grave of a pauper. I
heard a good Irish lady describe an awful tragedy of this
nature ; and as she told the melancholy tale, her face grew
pale at its remembrance. Called too late to save one who
had been her friend in youth, she was in time to close her
eyes as she lay in her last mortal agony on the bare floor
of a back room in a tenement house in New York. Meek,
gentle, well-educated and accomplished, the poor exile who
thus died on that bare floor, with scarcely sufficient rags to
hide her wasted limbs, was the victim of the husband's
false pride and morbid sensitiveness — of his poor Irish gen-
tility. Through every stage of the downward process he
rapidly passed, dragging down with him his tenderly nur-
tured wife, until the sad ending was that death of hunger
on those naked boards.

There must be no hesitation, no pause, in a country in
which there is no hesitation, no pause, no rest — whose life
is movement, whose law is progress. The golden rule to
be observed by the new-comer is to accept any employ-
ment that offers, and refuse nothing that is honest and not
morally degrading : and from the lowest, the humblest, the
poorest positions, any commonly well-educated man can
rise, if he only determine to do so. Many of the greatest,
highest, proudest men in America have risen from the axe
and the spade — from labour of one kind or other ; and in
the estimation of every honourable mind, they are the

294 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

greater, the higher, and the prouder, because of their
having done so. Americans teach many useful lessons to
the nations of the Old World. Progress is not the only
principle happily illustrated by them ; ' recuperation ' is
even better understood. If an American fail in business,
his failure is no obsta'cle to his ' trying again ; ' as if a man
happen to fall in the street, there is no reason why he
should not pick himself up, rub the dust or mud from his
clothes, and continue on his way. The American may fail
once, or twice, or even thrice ; but he does not therefore
sit down in despair — with him, as long as there is life there
is hope. It might be curious to speculate how many emi-
nent merchants, now millionaires, or on the high road to
that goal of the business man's ambition, owe their present
position to the * never say die ' policy — who, so long as they
had brains or health, would not give in. To ' begin again '
is not the same desperate thing in America that it is in
England or Ireland; simply because so many men have
begun at the lowest, are beginning at the lowest, must
begin at the lowest; and there is no shame attaching to
the lowest in a country where honest labour — toil in the
sweat of the brow — is honourable, not degrading, To our
mind, there is something more than healthful and hopeful
in this policy — it is manly and noble. Poor Irish gentility
cannot comprehend, or will not accept it ; but Irish pluck
and energy will. Of this Irish pluck and energy I could
give many illustrations ; but I must content myself with
a few.

I had not been long in the States when, in a Western
city, I met the subject of the following true tale.

There landed on the levee of New Orleans on the 26th
of January, 1854, a well-built, bright-looking, high-
spirited young Irishman, from the neighbourhood of a
town in the county Eoscommon. The son of a miller, he
had received that ordinary kind of education which left
much to be done by the pupil in after life. Save health,

THE MILLER'S SON. 295

strength, and a fixed resolution to push his way in the
world, the son of the Irish miller had nothing when he
stood on the banks of the mighty Mississippi. Young
O'B — - did not lose much time, or wear out his boot-
leather, in hunting after employment that would har-
monise with his notions of Irish gentility — for the simple
reason that he had not brought such a commodity with
him from Koscommon. Like a sensible young Irishman,
who had the world before him, he took the first work that
offered. With the savings of a few weeks' labour in his
pocket, he paid his passage to St. Louis. Work was scarce
in that city at the moment, so he determined not to lose his
time there, but push on. From St. Louis he proceeded to
the city in which he hoped to find something to do ; and as
he left the steamer, in which he had taken a deck passage,
his entire fortune consisted of three silver dollars. Fail-
ing to find work of any kind in this city, he resolved to
try what he could make of the country ; for being a sober
lad, and having his bright Irish wits about him, he deter-
mined that he should not 'hang about the town.' He
went some eight or ten miles into the country, and found
work as a farm hand. For six weeks he honestly did his
best to earn his pay; but his hands becoming sore from
the labour, he was forced to give in. Keturning to the
town, the Roscommon lad was employed by the principal
hotel of the place to bring water to the stable with a horse
and cart. At this humble employment he was engaged,
when, happening to see a small man set upon by a great
savage, he came to the rescue of the former, and prostrated
the Goliath. The Goliath was treacherous as well as brutal,
and rushing into his house, which was near at hand, he
possessed himself of a sharp weapon, with which he stabbed
the young Irishman, of whom he very nearly made an
end. For six months of pain and weariness poor O'B —
was unable to earn a dollar. But he had brought with
him from Roscommon a splendid constitution, and 'fine

296 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

healing flesh.' When he was on his legs again he was
taken into the office of the hotel, a position for which his
intelligence suited him. The place was a very good one, as

a stepping-stone to something better ; and when O'B

quitted it, which he did in twenty months, it was with
900 dollars in his pocket, having saved every cent that he
could possibly lay by. To be a lawyer was his ambition ;
and he was bright, and quick, and clear, with a fervent
tongue, and a good tough brain withal. For two years
and three months he studied hard at the desk and in the
courts, and was then admitted into the profession after a
creditable examination. He then practised with an emi-
nent lawyer in the great city in which he had studied;
and with the same eminent lawyer he remained until the
summer of 1860. Then he turned his face once more to
the smaller city in which he had humbly toiled and faith-
fully served ; and here he determined to set up as an
attorney and counsellor. His wealth was then all in the
brain and the will, and his exchequer was low indeed.
He contrived, however, to get an office, the furniture of
which consisted of a small table and a single chair — in-
tended for the joint yet separate use of client and of
counsel; while the library was comprehended in a single
volume of the statutes, 'loaned' to him by a friend. It
was not a very splendid beginning, nor was his office a
palace of luxury; but there was the right stuff in the
young practitioner. His first case was remarkable, not* so
much from its being, what it was, a bad one — a 'hard
case ' — or for its success, as for an incident with which it
was attended. The opposing counsel, who knew the his-
tory of his 'learned friend,' finding his young antagonist
pushing him to the wall, and losing temper, had the good
taste and delicacy to suggest that his 'learned friend' was
more conversant with the manipulation of a trunk or
portmanteau than with the handling of a legal argument ;
to which taunt the young Irishman replied in a manner

WELL-EARNED SUCCESS. 297

at once playful and emphatic — namely, by hurling a great
glass inkstand right in the face of his ' learned friend,
down whose obscured features a copious stream of ink,
artistically blended with a rosier hue, rolled and lost
itself in the full bosom of a shirt which a second before
had shone with dazzling lustre. It is not given to every
man to make a sensation in court ; but the effect of this
coup was eminently successful. The judge, representing
the majesty of the Law, which affected to be deeply
offended and seriously outraged, solemnly imposed a fine
of fifty dollars ; which fine was less solemnly remitted.
The tide of fortune began to set in ; and in few days after
his double success, alike of ink-bottle and argument, the
rising lawyer had the courage to go in debt for four chairs,
and to have his office washed out on credit. But in five
years after the delivery of the retort courteous referred to,
O'B — - received an absolute fee of 1,000 dollars for the
conduct of an important case, and a conditioned fee of
5,000 dollars — in other words, one thousand dollars win or
lose, and five thousand in case he won ; and he did win
— that is, he got a young gentleman of good family safely
through a little scrape which might have had a fatal ter-
mination. The four chairs, long since paid for, are still
in the office ; and the loaned copy of the statutes, after-
wards presented as a tribute of admiration, expanded into
a library that is fast encroaching on the last few unoc-
cupied feet of wall. In 1862 and in 1863 O'B was

member of the State Legislature, and at the election for
Congress previous to the time I met him, he was a candi-
date on the Democratic ticket. There is no mystery, no
disguise about O'B- or his career ; for at the State Con-
vention the gentleman — a State Senator — who nominated
him, made the leading facts which I have now narrated,
the bes,t claim tz> the sympathy and respect of his audi-
ence, who, like the subject of his eulogium, were, most of
them at least, self-made men. I have seen O'B 's

298 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

home library, and I can answer that not only is it choice
and comprehensive, but that it is well employed by the
successful lawyer, who, when a lad of twenty, worked man-
fully on the levee of New Orleans. Possibly the moral
of the story might be found in these words, which I heard
him use — 'Thank Heaven ! I never was drunk in my life.'

One evening in a great Eastern city I met in social in-
tercourse some five-and-twenty or thirty Irishmen from
all parts of Ireland, every one of whom was either pro-
gressing, prosperous, or rich : and all, without an exception,
owed everything they possessed to their own energy and
good conduct. During the evening a scrap of paper was
handled to me, on which was written the words — * There
are more than four millions and a half of dollars repre-
sented at this table — all made by the men themselves, and
most of it within a few years.' The Irishman who sat
next to me was the possessor of a twelfth of the whole.
He had not been more than sixteen years in the country,
and until some years after he landed in America he had
no connection whatever with mercantile affairs. A few dol-
lars and the clothes in which he stood — such was his capi-
tal. He had no poor Irish gentility to embarrass him;
and at the head of a dray-horse he might be seen soon
after his arrival, his frock-coat not altogether suited to his
rough employment, and his boots fatally damaged in sole
and upper. But in a short time he made and saved
money, and he went from one thing to another, mounting
step after step of the commercial ladder ; until he now is
partner in one of the finest concerns of the city, and
enjoys the highest repute for probity and enterprise. At
the same table sat one who, a native of my own city, had
been earning at home four shillings a week — eightpence a
day — at a certain employment, but who was then the
owner of a prosperous establishment, in which several
hundreds were profitably employed. Intelligence, sheer in-
dustry, and good conduct, — these the secret of his success.

NO POOR IRISH GENTILITY HERE. 299

In the same city I know an Irishman who holds perhaps
as prominent and responsible a position as any man
within its walls, he having the management of one of the
most splendid concerns in America. He had a situation
in Ireland of some 100/. a year on a public work; but
being a young man of good education, clear brain, and
magnificent health, he thought he could do better in
America. There was not a bit of false gentility about
him, yet he sought to procure a situation at least as re-
spectable as that to which he had been accustomed ; but
the moment the last sovereign was turned into dollars,
and the dollars were rapidly vanishing, he determined he
would not be idle a day longer. ' I saw,' he said, f there
was nothing for it but work, and I was resolved to take
anything that offered, I didn't care what. I spent a por-
tion of the morning knocking about here and there, trying
to get such employment as I would prefer ; but it was
not to be had. I was too late, or they didn't want me.
' Come,' said I to myself, ' there must be an end of this kind
of thing ; the way to get along is to begin with something,
so I turned into the first livery-stable I came to, and asked
the owner did he require a hand to rub down his horses :
he said he did, and that he would willingly employ me.
' All right,' said I ; * so I stripped off my coat, turned up
my sleeves, and set to work. And I assure you I slept
well that night. I was not long there, having soon found
what suited me better — and here I am now, thank God.'

As I was leaving a city ' down South ' I was accompanied
some way in the ' cars ' by a number of my countrymen
— every man of them prosperous, respectable, and ' self-
made.' Near me was a gentlemen rather advanced in
years, of the kindest expression, the softest voice, and eyes
mildly beaming through a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.
A thorough American, he was no less a devoted Irishman.
I was speaking of the climate, and its effect on the con-
stitution and health of our people, when he said, in his

300 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

soft voice — 'My dear sir, it all depends on a man's
prudence or imprudence. The climate is dangerous to
those who are foolish — who drink to excess. Any climate
would be injurious to them ; but this climate, though
much talked against, is not dangerous to the sober man..
My dear sir, there is an instance of it in my own person
— I worked on a canal for three years, often up to my
waist in water — '

' You, sir ! ' I could not help exclaiming.

'Yes, my dear sir' — his eyes mildly beaming at me
through the gold-rimmed glasses, and his voice catching a
softer intonation — 'Yes, my dear sir, I was often up to
my hips in water; and at the end of the time I had my
health perfectly, and a considerable sum saved — quite
enough to begin with. I kept my health, because I never
drank — while hundreds of our countrymen were literally
dying around me, I may say withering in my sight, all
the result of their own folly. Poor fellows ! the tempta-
tion was great, and the wrhisky was to be had for next to
nothing.'

' But,' I said, ' you surely had not been used to rough
work of that kind ? '

' Very true, my dear sir ; but what was I to do ? I
knew I had come to a country in . which no man — no
stranger certainly — could be idle without great injury to
himself ; and as I had no immediate opportunity of getting
such employment as I myself would have preferred, and
was accustomed to, why, my dear sir, I took that which
offered. And, on the whole, I am not sorry for it.'

My friend then branched off into the adaptability of
man to various climates; and, taking a wide and rather
comprehensive range of inquiry, he hurried me through
several countries of the world, at the same time broaching
a number of plausible theories, evidently favourites of his.
As I grasped his honest hand, and felt the mild light of
those kindly eyes beaming at me through the gold-rimmed

A SELF-MADE MAX. 301

spectacles, I pictured to myself that man of soft voice and
cultivated mind, working up to his hips in mud and slush,
and the Southern sun raining its fierce fire on his head.
But there he was, not a bit the worse for his hard work —
on the contrary, both personally and philosophically proud
of what he had gone through.

Two instances of energy and determination must close a
list which could be added to any extent.

A great strapping Irishman — who would be called at
home 'a splendid figure of a man' — landed at Castle
Garden about fifteen years since. He neither knew how
to write nor read, but he was gifted with abundant natural
quickness, and he was full of energy and ambition. Work
he came for, and work he got — that of a labourer. He
was as strong as a horse, but he had not much experience
in the management of a hod ; and some of the old hands,
including one who was inclined to be specially offensive,
sneered at the new-comer as a ' green-horn.' The leader
of the old hands was a strong, burly fellow, not bad-
natured, but inclined to bully the stranger. Now the
stranger was not one of those who liked to be bullied ; so
the moment he was made fully aware of the meaning and
intent of the offensive phrase, he fairly challenged, and in
single combat manfully vanquished, his ill-advised assail-
ant. From that moment he lost the verdant tinge which
he first wore. So far this was serviceable ; but he was not
content with so poor a triumph. He saw other men — dull
plodders, with ' not half his own gumption,' pushing their
way up the social ladder ; and why ? Because they could
read and write, — because they had 'the learning,' which,
alas ! he had not. But it was not because he had it not
at that moment, that he could not have it some time or
other. Then he would have it ; that he was resolved on.
So the large Irishman — who seemed big enough to swallow
master and pupils at a meal — sat down on a form in a
night school, and commenced to learn his a, b, c ; and, with

302 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

tongue desperately driven against one cheek, struggled
with his' ' pot-hooks and hangers ' — the first efforts of the
polite letter writer. It was hard work, far tougher than
that with the spade or the pickaxe. Many a time did the
poor fellow's courage begin to fail, and his heart sink, as
it were, into his boots ; but he would not be beaten — he
would not have it said that he failed. He did not fail.
"With the aid of a fellow-student, more advanced than
himself, he drew out his first contract, which was for a
few hundred dollars. This was accepted ; and being
executed in the most satisfactory manner by the young
contractor, who himself performed no small part of the
task, it was his first great step in life — contracts for
thousands of dollars, and hundreds of thousands of dollars,
following more rapidly than, in his wildest dreams, he
could have imagined possible. This self-made man quickly
adapted himself to the manners of the class to which he
had so laboriously and creditably raised himself ; and no
one who converses with the shrewd, genial, off-handed
Irishman, who drives his carriage, lives in fine style, and
is educating his young family with the utmost care and at
great cost, could suppose that he was the same rough giant
who a few years before sat upon the form of a night
school, wearily plodding at words of two syllables, and,
with tongue fiercely driven against his cheek, scrawled on
a slate his first lessons in writing.

Any one passing through the fashionable quarter of the
capital of a Southern State may see the well-appointed
mansion of a worthy Irishman, who was born within the
swing of the

Bells of Shandon,

That sound so grand on

The pleasant waters

Of the river Lee.

As a journeyman baker he entered that city in the year
1851. In a few months after, he had saved 200 dollars ;

HOW HE BECAME A MASTER BAKER. 303

and with this, as part payment, he bought a small house
and lot of half an acre of ground — the balance to be paid
at the covenanted time. Having thus made his first start
in life, he then made his second — he married. Besides
the half acre in his lot, he rented an additional acre ; and
this acre was the chief means of his future fortune. His
ambition was to be a master baker, 'no man's servant.'
How was this to be done ? Through the acre of garden.
But what time had the journeyman baker, who worked
from three o'clock in the morning till four in the evening
in the bakery, to spend in cultivating vegetables? Very
little time, an ordinary person would suppose ; but the
Corkman, who had seen how vegetables were grown in the
neighbourhood of his native city, and who knew how profit-
able they would be when raised for his adopted city, was
not an ordinary person — on the contrary, he was a deter-
mined and energetic person, who was resolved to rise in
the world by more than ordinary industry. So, after
leaving his day's work at the bake-house, he would go home
and work at his little farm from five o'clock in the after-
noon to a late hour in the night — frequently to one
o'clock next morning, if the moon served ; he would then
snatch a couple of hours' rest, and be again in the bake-
house at the regular hour. Every minute that he could
steal from his natural rest, every moment of his leisure
time, was devoted by the journeyman baker to the culti-
vation of his land ; and when the bright Southern moon
flooded the silent night with its radiance, the Corkman
might be seen digging and delving, raking and weeding,
planting and sowing ; until his farm blossomed as a garden,
and bore abundant fruit. By this means he nearly sup-
ported his family, and saved his wages. In three years he
has 500 dollars in the bank. With this 500 dollars he
took his third start in America — he became a master
baker. And so well did he succeed in his new capacity,
that he soon established a good business, saved a consider-

304 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

able sum of money, educated his children, built for them
a neat mansion in which they enjoy every reasonable
comfort ; and I, who met him, and received much atten-
tion at his hands, can state that this self-made man is
among the most respected of the Irish-born citizens of the
community in whose midst he has established himself so
successfully. He had a ' squeeze in his business during the
war;' but when I saw him he had got over all his diffi-
culties, and was then sailing before the wind. He is a
genuinely sober man, who, to use his own words, ' knows
the danger of drink, and never lost an hour by it in his
life.'

And here I answer a question which is in every Irish-
man's mind, on the tip of every Irishman's tongue, — how
are the Irish doing in America ? — have they bettered their
condition, or the contrary? — are they improving or going
back ? I was nearly six months going from place to place ;
and during that time, and in the course of that extended
journey, I was brought into contact with men of different
nationalities, various opinions, and all classes of society.
I conversed with Irishmen who took a desponding or a
hopeful view of the position of their countrymen, who
mourned over their weaknesses and their follies, or were
proud of their virtues. I sought to gather information
wherever I went, and I had abundant opportunities of
doing so. I searched and I sifted with an earnest purpose,
and a conscientious desire to come at the truth. I set
statement against statement, opinion against opinion, in
the spirit of a judge rather than with the feeling of an
advocate — though, I honestly confess it, I could not, even
for a second, divest myself of a strong wish to hear the
best of those of my own race and country. The result,
then, of every observation I could make, of every enquiry
I instituted, of every information I received, is this, — that

THE IRISH DON'T DO THEMSELVES JUSTICE. 305

while, in some places, there are evils to deplore, but evils
which are being remedied, and while many are not doing
what they ought or could do for their advancement, on the
whole, and dealing with them in mass, the Irish in America
are steadily rising, steadily advancing, steadily improving
in circumstances and in position ; and that, as a rule, they
have enormously benefitted their condition by having left
the old country for the new. In every walk and de-
partment of life they are making their mark. As mer-
chants, bankers, manufacturers — as lawyers, physicians,
engineers, architects, inventors — as literary men, as men
of science, as artists, as scholars, as teachers of jjouth — as
soldiers, wise in council and terrible in battle — as states-
men, as yet more the sons of Irishmen than Irish born, —
the nationality is adequately and honourably represented ;
while the great bulk — the mass — are felt to be essential to
the progress, the greatness, the very life of the American
Republic. Where, as must necessarily be the case, the
Irish constitute a large proportion of the working popula-
tion of a great city, they may be looked down upon by
the prejudiced or the superfine — those who dislike their
religion, or despise homely manners or rude employment ;
but the toiling, hard-working mass of the Irish are never-
theless rising day by day, not only to greater comfort, but
to a fuller appreciation of their duties and their destiny as
citizens of America.

The Irish in America injure themselves more than others
can or are willing to injure them. They injure themselves
seriously by not in all cases putting forward their best
men to represent them, whether in municipal or other
offices ; and by allowing men to speak and act in their
name who are not the most qualified, indeed in some, and
too many, instances, not in the least qualified to do the
one or the other. Thoughtful Irishmen, sensitive and self-
respecting, are the very first to deplore this great prac-
tical error ; and I must say I have been but too sensible of

306 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

its damaging influence in more than one instance, or one
locality. The evil which is done follows as a necessary
and inevitable consequence. When the Irish put forward
or elect certain men, they are assumed to do so of their
own free choice — to select them as the right men, the
best men ; and this being so, they must not be surprised
if the prejudiced or the censorious are only too willing to
accept such ill-chosen and unfit representatives as accurate
types and fair exponents of Irish character, Irish genius,
or Irish worth. But, on the other hand, when the Irish
adopt the right men — men who are upright, honourable,
wise — in a word, presentable — men of whom they may say
with pride, ' they belong to us ; they are of our stock ; we
are not ashamed to put them forward as our representa-
tives,'— in such case they do not so much do honour to
themselves, as simple justice to their country and their
race. I cannot venture to deal otherwise than in gene-
ralities ; and I shall therefore only add that, while I have
frequently witnessed, and always with intense satisfaction,
the result of the wise and self-respecting policy of select-
ing the best, the ablest, and the worthiest Irishmen, or
sons of Irishmen, to represent the race, I have had too
many occasions to deplore the fatal folly of Irishmen
thrusting into public positions, or rather suffering to be
thrust into such positions, men who, possibly excellent
persons in their own way, and eminently suited for the
retirement of domestic life, were not qualified to stand the
test of American criticism — that is, as the representatives
of a great nationality and a gifted people. There is no
lack of the best men for such offices or positions, be they
what they may ; but it will often happen that the sensitive
man of merit has no chance against the vulgar intriguer —
and so the Irish are damaged in the public esteem. This,
however, is an evil that must cure itself in course of time,
when the Irish- American witnesses the happy results of a
policy consistent not only with reason and common-sense,
but with the most ordinary self-respect.

HOW THEY ARE REGARDED. 307

On the whole, then, and notwithstanding this evil, which
is more damaging than some will believe, the Irish in
America are steadily advancing in social position, as well
as improving in material prosperity. They are improving
even in the cities in which dangers and temptations are
most liable to assail them ; they are improving in places
in which society is, as it were, only settling down into its
legitimate grooves ; and in many, many parts of the country
they are — taking all circumstances into consideration —
progressing more rapidly and more successfully than any
other class of the community. The Irish landed on the
shores of America poorer — with less money, less means, less
capital — than the English, the Scotch, or the Germans ; in
fact, under less favourable circumstances in almost every
respect than the people of any other country. The vast
majority of them came in poverty — too many in want and
sickness — too many only to find a grave after landing ;
and, therefore, what the Irish in America have done in
their adopted country — their new home — though by no
means all, or anything like all, that could be wished of
them, is an indisputable proof of the inherent vigour and
vitality of their race. This is what may be conscientiously
said of them to-day ; but how much more may be said of
them in ten or twenty years hence, belongs to the future
and to the goodness of Providence.

And now a word as to the manner in which the Irish are
regarded in America. Much necessarily depends upon
themselves, but much also depends on the circumstances
in which they are placed, or by which they are surrounded.
In some places they possibly exercise, or are supposed to
exercise, too much influence in elections ; and those whose
party they happen to oppose, or with whose ambition they
interfere, can scarcely be expected to think of them and
speak of them in the most friendly or flattering terms.
In other places the religious sentiment of a large and
powerful class may be so strong as to intensify national

308 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

prejudice, a jealousy which is common to all countries.
Or the majority of the Irish may happen to be humble
working people ; and even in Republics the rich are like the
same class in old-established Monarchies, rather inclined
to look down upon those who are not, as themselves, decked
in purple and fine linen. I refer in another place to the
long and bitter struggle against the Catholic and the
foreigner, and I shall only now remark that, whatever
prejudice may still exist, it must, to a great extent, be
traced to this old feeling, which has manifested itself at
various intervals before and since the Revolution ; and
that, when one may hear or see the Irish spoken of or
written of in a harsh or contemptuous spirit, it would be
well, before accepting such expressions of opinion as proof
of anything more than of a narrow, a malevolent, or an
angry mind, to speculate as to the cause, the motive, or
the circumstances in which the traducer and the traduced
are relatively placed. On the whole, then, and making
due allowance for the causes and motives at which I have
glanced, the Irish do stand well in the public esteem of
America ; and in many places in which I have been I
know they are not only generally esteemed, but are highly
popular.

As to the individual Irishman, he is perhaps more
truly popular than any other man in America. His genial
qualities and kindly nature, his wit, and humour, and
pleasant manners — these render him agreeable as a com-
panion, and sought after in society ; and when business
ability and rigid conscientiousness are combined with the
more social qualities, as they are in numberless instances,
then there is no man more admired or respected than the
Irishman. I have frequently heard an American say of
an Irishman, who would no more think of disguising his
nationality than he would of committing a crime, ' Sir, he
is a whole-souled Irishman — a high-souled gentleman, sir.'

But there is one class of whom, neither from Irishmen

SCOTCH IRISH. 309

nor Americans, is much said in praise. 'Whole-souled'
and ' high-toned ' would sound as a sarcasm and a mockery
if applied to those Irish, or sons of Irish, who style them-
selves 'Scotch-Irish' — a title or designation so unworthy
and so unnatural, as to excite the derision of every man of
large heart and generous spirit.

The Scotch-Irish! Who are the Scotch-Irish? What
does the term mean ? Is not the compound of itself a con-
tradiction ? Such were the questions which I involuntarily
asked when the strange absurdity first met my eye or ear.
It was so curious, it comprehended a treason so incon-
sistent with the ordinary feelings by which men are
governed, that I was at first much perplexed when striving
to explain its meaning. But now I have no difficulty in
understanding and accounting for this most ridiculous
compound, this mongrel designation. Scotch-Irish are
those Irish, or descendants of Irishmen, who are ashamed
of their country, and represent themselves to Americans
as other than what they really are. Not only are they
ashamed of their country, but, so far as this false feeling
influences them, they are its shame. Detested by every
true Irishman, they are despised by every genuine Ameri-
can. It would appear that, though the descendants of
settlers who came over, or were sent over, to Ireland in
the time of James, or Charles, or Cromwell, and though
their families have intermixed with the native population,
with whose blood and race theirs has blended during two
centuries — in fact, as far back as when the Pilgrim Fathers
landed on Plymouth rock — they still are not Irish ! This,
practically, is what the Scotch-Irish say of themselves by
the adoption of this unnatural distinction : ' Such is our
stubborn hatred of the country on which our remote
ancestors were quartered, and from which so many of the
rightful owners were driven to make way for us, we could
not amalgamate with the Irish nation, or sympathise with
its people.' This is a hard judgment for any class to pro-
nounce against itself — and this is unmistakably implied

310 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

by the mongrel designation of Scotch-Irish. The noble
Geraldines soon became more Irish than the Irish them-
selves. Such is ever the case with a generous race ; they
will thoroughly identify themselves with the people among
whom their lot is cast. Not so with the Scotch-Irish ; the
longer they dwell in the country, the stronger seems to
be their dislike to it, and the greater their anxiety — when
abroad — to be recognised as, or mistaken for, something
different from that which they are, according to every law
of nature. This, practically, is their own story of them-
selves.

It may be well to enquire why these people call them-
selves by this unpatriotic title or designation. The reason
or cause is based on various motives, not one of which is
praiseworthy or ennobling. Cowardice, whether moral or
physical, is not a very creditable excuse for the adoption
of this description of national masquerade ; yet to moral
cowardice may be traced this ludicrous disguise. Vanity
is not a specially high-toned motive ; and vanity has much
to do with it. Bigotry is not an ennobling sentiment ;
and bigotry has also its share in the miserable treason.
To conciliate prejudice and gratify dislike — this was the
origin of Scotch-Irishism.

The prejudice to be conciliated was twofold — national
and religious. But the prejudice against the stranger
comprehended all strangers, ah1 Irish, the Northern Pro-
testant no less than the Southern Catholic. Hence then
the cry — ' I am no mere Irishman ; I am Scotch-Irish.'
And many of these men — these Irish-born sons of Irish-
born fathers, and Irish-born grandfathers, and Irish-born
great-grandfathers, and Irish-born great-great-grandfathers,
joined in every fierce crusade against Irishmen, or against
Irishmen because they were Catholics. There were, no
doubt, many more that claimed a remote Scotch ancestry,
who, Protestants or Presbyterians as they were, stood by
their countrymen on every occasion when either their
freedom or their religion was assailed ; and these high-

THE SCOTCH IRISH. 311

minded men would have felt themselves disgraced if they
called themselves anything else but what they boasted of
being — Irish.

Then the mass of the Irish emigrants were poor, many
illiterate, many in a miserable condition, a temporary bur-
den on the charity or the industry of the community. For
the moment this Irish emigration was unpopular ; it ex-
cited apprehension, even hostility, there not being, at least
in the minds of some, sufficient confidence either in the
energy of the incomers, or the resources of the country to
which they came. Here again was the occasion for the
unnatural Irish to exclaim — 'These myriads of penniless
adventurers are a different race from us. We, sleek and
well fed, have nothing in common with those ill-clad, half-
starved creatures ; we are not Irish, but Scotch-Irish.' To
this pitiable vanity, this abject moral cowardice, there was
a splendid contrast in the conduct of Irishmen, who, not-
withstanding the old Scotch blood in their veins, welcomed,
assisted, and cherished their poor countrymen, with whom
they claimed kindred, even though their pockets were
empty, their raiment was scanty, and sickness had followed
in their track.

Then the vast majority of the Irish emigrants were Oa,-
tholics ; and when the evil spirit of persecution broke out,
here was a strong motive for repudiating the country that
flooded America with Popery. 'We are of a different race
and religion to these people, good Know Nothings ! Ex-
cellent Native Americans ! do not confound us with these
Irish Papists. We are Scotch-Irish — Protestant Scotch-
Irish. We are as opposed to these Irish Papists as you
are ; and to prove our sincerity — to prove to you that we
are not of the same blood, though we had the misfortune
to be born in the same country, we will heartily join you
in every effort you may make to put them down/ And
they did as they said. They were honest so far.

The literature of England was anti-Catholic, if not anti-
Irish ; it excited hostility and it deepened prejudice. The

312 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

literature of England became the literature of America, or
it influenced the tone of the literature of native growth.
Another reason for the poor-hearted Irishman, while pro-
claiming his Protestantism, to repudiate his country.

A volume of indignant commentary could not outweigh
the force of a few words which I heard uttered by an Ame-
rican, who was much perplexed by the term Scotch-Irish :

* What does Mr. mean ? Why should he set himself

out as not being an Irishman ? What can he mean by this
Scotch-Irish ? Wasn't he born in Ireland ? I was born in
America. I am an American. Then why should he pre-
tend he isn't an Irishman? I may prefer an American
Protestant to an Irish Catholic, though a man's religion is
nothing to me, it's his own affair ; but I like the man who
stands up for his native land, whatever he is. I don't like
a hound that denies the country that gave him birth. It
isn't natural.'

Thus it is, whatever their own opinion of their conduct
may be, those who proclaim themselves Scotch-Irish gain
little in the esteem of the generous and the high-spirited,
but, on the contrary, lose much by this shabby absurdity.

I am happy to say that among the most favourable
specimens of the country whom I met in British America
or the States, whether North or South, were Irish Pro-
testants, from Ulster as well as Muiister ; but these men
were not only known and admired as Irishmen, but they
boasted of being Irishmen. 'Whole-souled Irishmen'
indeed. I must add, in justice to my countrymen in
Canada, that I never heard of the Scotch-Irish until I came
to the States.

There may possibly be those in Ireland who in their
secret hearts have no love for the country that gave them
birth ; but there is no open and avowed treason to their
nationality. Anything of the kind would only ensure
universal contempt, and loss of public honour and private
esteem to the person mean enough or rash enough to be
guilty of it. Then why should it be pardoned in America ?

CHAPTER XVII.

Remittances Home— Something of the Angel still— How the
Family are brought out — Remittances— A 'Mercenary' — A
Young Pioneer — A Poor Irish Widow — Self-sacrifice — The
Amount sent.

IT is difficult to realise to the mind the magnitude of
the pecuniary sacrifices made by the Irish in America,
either to bring out their relatives to their adopted country,
or to relieve the necessities and improve the circumstances
of those who could not leave or who desired to remain in
the old country. To say that they have thus disposed of a
sum equal to Twenty -four Millions of British money, or,
supposing there to have been no depreciation of the cur-
rency of the United States, One Hundred and Twenty
Millions of Dollars, scarcely conveys the true idea of the
vastness of the amount of money sent within a quarter of
a century by one branch of the same great family to the
other. But if it were asserted — as it might be with the
most perfect accuracy — that the amount of money sent
across the ocean by the Irish in America and Australia
within that time would have paid for more than two-thirds
of all the property that passed through the Court of En-
cumbered Estates in Ireland — property represented by an
annual income or rental exceeding 2,000,000/. — the mind
might possibly appreciate the prodigious magnitude of this
heart-offering of one of the most generous and self-sacri-
ficing of all the families of the human race. As a mere
fact, more than 24,000,0002. have been sent by the

14

314 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Irish to pay for passages and outfits and fares to distant
places ; to enable those ' at home ' to pay a high rent, per-
haps in a time of scarcity ; to support parents too old, or
too feeble, or too prejudiced, to venture across the sea ; or
to secure the safety and education of brothers and sisters
yet too young to brave the perils of a protracted voyage
and a long journey in a strange country.

There is not a private banker, or passenger broker, or
agent in any of the cities of the United States who could
not tell of instances of the most extraordinary self-denial
practised by the sons and daughters of the Irish race. The
entries in their ledgers are prosaic enough — so many dol-
lars sent, on such a day, by a young man or a young
woman with an Irish name, to some person in Ireland of
a similar name. But were that matter-of-fact entry trans-
fused into its true colours, volumes of poetry might be
written of those countless heart-offerings, the fruits of
hard self-denial, not merely at the sacrifice of innocent
enjoyments, and humble finery, dear to woman's nature,
from a natural and graceful instinct, but often at the
cost of the fondest hopes of the human heart. How long,
for instance, if the accountant troubled himself to consider,
may he not have remembered this most regular of his
visitors, since when, almost a child in years, she timidly
and yet proudly confided to his custody her first earnings,
with many an injunction and many a prayer, and — believ-
ing she read sympathy in his face — told him for whom it
was intended, and how sadly it was wanted by the old
people at home, for whom she had risked the dangers of
the deep, and the worse perils of a strange land ? Did he
care to regard her in any other light than as a constant
customer, he might have observed how the soft fair face
lost its maiden bloom, and hardened into premature age,
marked with lines of care and toil, as year after year this
unconscious martyr to filial duty surrendered everything
— even the vision of a home blessed by the love of hus-

REMITTANCES HOME. 315

band and the caresses of children — to keep the roof over
the head of father or of mother, and provide for their
comfort in the winter of their days ; or to pay for the
support of a young brother or sister, or perhaps the orphan
child of a sister who had confided it to her care with her
dying breath. I have many times, and always with in-
stinctive reverence, seen such noble Irish women in the
act of sending the fortieth or the fiftieth remittance to
their relatives in Ireland ; and the cool matter-of-fact
deliberateness with which the money was deposited, and
the order obtained, was an eloquent proof of the frequency
of their visits for the same purpose.

The .great ambition of the Irish girl is to send 'some-
thing' to her people as soon as possible after she has
landed in America ; and in innumerable instances the first
tidings of her arrival in the New World are accompanied'
with a remittance, the fruits of her first earnings in her first
place. Loving a bit of finery dearly, she will resolutely
shut her eyes to the attractions of some enticing article of
dress, to prove to the loved ones at home that she has not
forgotten them ; and she will risk the danger of insuffi-
cient clothing, or boots not proof against rain or snow,
rather than diminish the amount of the little hoard to
which she is weekly adding, and which she intends as a
delightful surprise to parents who possibly did not alto-
gether approve of her hazardous enterprise. To send
money to her people, she will deny herself innocent enjoy-
ments, womanly indulgences, and the gratifications of
legitimate vanity ; and such is the generous and affec-
tionate nature of these young girls, that they regard the
sacrifices they make as the most ordinary matter in the
world, for which they merit neither praise nor approval.
To assist their relatives, whether parents, or brothers and
sisters, is with them a matter of imperative duty, which
they do not and cannot think of disobeying, and which,
on the contrary, they delight in performing. And the

316 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

money destined to that purpose is regarded as sacred, and
must not be diverted to any object less worthy.

I was told in New York of a young Irish girl, who was
ojily one month in the country, going to the office v of
the well-known Irish Emigration Society's Bank to send
her first earnings to her mother, of course to the care of
the parish priest. She brought with her five dollars,
which in her simplicity she supposed to be equivalent to
the II. she intended to transmit. At that time six dollars
and fifty cents were required to make up the British
pound, and the poor girl's disappointment was intense
when she was made to understand that she was deficient a
dollar and a half. The friend who accompanied her, and
who had been some time longer in the country, lent her a
dollar ; the clerk advanced her the balance, and the un-
diminished pound was sent to her 'poor mother, who
wanted it badly.' In a few days after, the money advanced
by the clerk was paid by the young girl, whose face was
soon known in the office, as she came at regular intervals
to send remittances, which were gradually increasing in
amount. In a very short time she understood the relative
value of American ' greenbacks ' and British gold, and made
no mistake as to the amount of the money-orders she
desired to transmit.

It frequently occurred in that office, that small sums
were advanced to make up the amount required by the
person intending to send a remittance ; and in no instance
was there failure in payment. A debt of the kind is, of
all others, the most sacred. The money which the loan
thus helps to complete is a filial offering — the gift of a
child to a parent ; and confidence so reposed is never
forfeited. I have heard the same statement made by
bankers and brokers in many parts of the United States.

So much is this sending of remittances to Ireland a
matter of routine to those engaged in the business, that
there must be something special in the circumstance of the

SOMETHING OF THE ANGEL STILL. 317

case, or in the manner or appearance of the applicant
for a bill of exchange, to excite the least attention. But
he must have been insensible indeed who was not attracted
by the strange aspect and appearance of a regular visitor
at the bank in Chambers' Street. So surely as the festivals
of Christmas and Easter were approaching, would a man of
powerful frame, wild eyes, and dissipated appearance, enter
the office, and laying on the counter $15, or $20, ask for
an order in favour of an old man away in some country
village in Ireland. Not unfrequently would the clothes of
the Society's customer bear the marks of abject poverty,
and his face evidences of the roughest usage ; and were the
police asked to give a character of this poor fellow, they
would say that, though honest and free from crime, there
was not 'a harder case' in New York; and that there
were few better known in the Tombs than he was. True,
he was a hard case indeed, wasting his strength and energy
in folly and dissipation, working now and then as a long-
shore man, but spending what he earned in drink, and
only sober when in prison, paying the penalty of drunken-
ness or violence, or at the two fixed periods of the year —
some time before Christmas and some time before Easter.
While in prison his sobriety was involuntary — at these
periods it was voluntary and deliberate. His old father
in Ireland expected to hear from 'his boy,' and the letter
so anxiously looked for at home should not be empty. So
long then as it was necessary to work in order to send a
couple of pounds as a Christmas-box or an Easter gift, he
would do so, and remain sober during that time ; but once
the money was sent, and the sacred duty discharged, he
would go back to the old course, spending his days partly
at work, partly in rows and dissipation, and very constantly
in the Tombs, possibly repenting his wanton waste of life.
There was no one to tell the old man at home of the wild
desperate course of his 'boy' in America, and he never
knew with what heroic self-denial these welcome re-

318 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

mittances were earned, or how the one strong affection,
the one surviving sense of duty, was sufficient, though
unhappily but for a moment, to redeem a reckless but not
altogether degraded nature. There was indeed something
of the angel left in that victim of the most fatal enemy to
the Irish in the New World.

With all banks and offices through which money is sent
to Ireland the months of December and March are the
busiest portions of the year. The largest amount is then
sent; then the offices are full of bustling, eager, indeed
clamorous applicants, and then are the clerks hard set in
their attempts to satisfy the demands of the impatient
senders, who are mostly females, and chiefly 'girls in
place.' The great festivals of Christmas and Easter are
specially dear to the Irish heart, being associated with the
most sacred mysteries of the Christian religion, and like-
wise with those modest enjoyments with which the family,
however humble or poor, seek to celebrate a season of
spiritual rejoicing. Then there is joy in the Church, which
typifies in the decorations of her altars as in the robes of her
ministers the gladness which should dwell in the heart of
the Christian. Thus misery, and sorrow, and want, are not
in accordance with the spirit of these solemn festivals, nor
with the feelings which ought to prevail with those who
believe in their teaching. Therefore, to enable the friends
at home — the loved ones never forgotten by the Irish
exile — to 'keep' the Christmas or the Easter in a fitting
manner — in reality, to afford them some little comforts at
those grateful seasons of the Christian year — remittances
are specially sent ; and coming from the source which they
do, these comforts, too often sadly needed, are the more
prized by those to whom the means for procuring them are
forwarded with touching remembrances, and fond prayers
and blessings, grateful alike to piety and affection. There
is something beautiful in these timely memorials of una-

HOW THE FAMILY ARE BROUGHT OUT. 319

bated love ; they link still closer hearts which the ocean
cannot divide.

What wonderful things have not these Irish girls done !
Take a single example — and there is not a State in the
Union in which the same does not occur : — Resolving
to do something to better the circumstances of her family,
the young Irish girl leaves her home for America. There
she goes into service, or engages in some kind of feminine
employment. The object she has in view — the same for
which she left her home and ventured to a strange country
— protects her from all danger, especially to her character :
that object, her dream by day and night, is the welfare of
her family, whom she is determined, if possible, to again
have with her as of old. From the first moment, she saves
every cent she earns — that is, every cent she can spare
from what is absolutely necessary to her decent appearance.
She regards everything she has or can make as belonging
to those to whom she has unconsciously devoted the flower
of her youth, and for whom she is willing to sacrifice her
woman's dearest hopes. To keep her place, or retain her
employment, what will she not endure! — sneers a* her
nationality, mockery of her peculiarities, even ridicule of
her faith, though the hot blood flushes her cheek with
fierce indignation. At every hazard the place must be
kept, the money earned, the deposit in the savings-bank
increased ; and though many a night is passed in tears and
prayers, her face is calm, and her eye bright, and her voice
cheerful. One by one, the brave girl brings the members
of her family about her. But who can tell of her anguish
if one of the dear ones goes wrong, or strays from the
right path! — who would imagine her rapture as success
crowns her efforts, and she is rewarded in the steadiness
of the brother for whom she feared and hoped, or in the
progress of the sister to whom she has been as a mother !
One by one, she has brought them all across the ocean, to
become members of a new community, citizens of a great

320 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

country — it may be, the mothers and fathers of a future
race; and knowing the perils which surround youth in a
country in which licence is too often — with the unthink-
ing and inexperienced — confounded with liberty, and im-
patience of control with proper independence of spirit, the
faithful girl seeks to draw them within the influence of
religion, in which, as in her passionate love of her family,
she has found her safeguard and her strength. Probably
she has grown old before her time, possibly she realises in
a happy marriage the reward of her youth of care and toil ;
but were the choice to be given her of personal happiness,
or all-sacrificing affection, she would choose the hard road
rather than the flowery path. Such is the humble Irish
girl, who may be homely, who may be deficient in book
knowledge, but whose heart is beyond gold in value.

There is no idea of repayment of the money thus ex-
pended. Once given, there is an end of it. This is not
so with other nationalities. The Germans, a more prudent,
are a less generous people than the Irish ; and when money
is expended in the bringing out of relatives, it is on the
understanding that one day or other it will be refunded —
that it will become a matter of account, to be arranged as
soon as possible, or, at farthest, when convenient. An emi-
nent Irish clergyman, who, from his position, has much.to do
with the affairs of a large and important diocese, remarked
to an Irish girl, one of his penitents, who came to consult
him as to the best mode of bringing out her mother and
father, she having frequently sent them remittances, and
also brought out and provided for a brother and sister. —
'Why, Ellen, you are leaving yourself nothing. Now your
father, as you tell me, can get on well, and there is work
enough for him here ; and surely he ought to pay you back
something of what I know you have been sending him for
years.' The girl looked at her old friend and adviser, first
in doubt, then in surprise, then in indignation. When
she replied, it was with sparkling eye and flushed cheek —

REMITTANCES. 321

' What, sir ! take back from my father and mother what I
gave them from my heart ! I could not rest in my bed if
I did anything so mean. Never say the like of that to me
again, Father, and God bless you ! ' and the poor girl's
voice quivered with emotion, as her eye softened in wistful
appeal. 'Don't mind, Ellen,' said the priest, 'I was
wrong; I should have known you better.' 'I really,' as
he said to me, ' meant to try what answer she would give ;
for that same day I was cognisant of a very different mode
of arranging matters. Sir, let people say what they please
of them, the Irish are a grand race, after all, and the Irish
women are an honour to their country and their faith.'
This was said with an enthusiasm not usual to a man so
self-contained as this somewhat Americanised Irish Priest.

Instances without number might be adduced in vindi-
cation of the eulogium thus pronounced. This year (1867)
a young girl landed at Castle Garden, and was fortunate
enough to obtain employment the same day. She had in
her possession a pound in gold, and some shillings ; and
finding that she was safely provided for, she determined
to send back the money to her mother, to whom it would
be of great assistance. Her employer, seeing her so well
disposed, advanced her a month's wages, which she was
delighted to add to her own money ; and a draft was pro-
cured and 'mailed' the very first day of her arrival in
America !

An Irish girl in Buffalo, who had been but four years in
the country, had within that tune paid for the passages
of two brothers and two sisters, besides sending 40Z. ; and,
when lately sending another remittance through the Irish
Emigrant Society of New York, she said she 'would not
rest until she brought out her dear father and mother,'
which she hoped she would be able to do within the next
six months.

In populous cities the women send home more money
than the men ; in small towns and rural districts the men

322 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

are as constant in their remittances, and perhaps send
larger sums. Great cities offer too many temptations to
improvidence or to vice, while in small places and rural
districts temptations are fewer, and the occasion for
spending money recklessly less frequent ; hence it is, that
the man who, amidst the whirl and excitement of life in a
great city, but occasionally sends $10 or $20 to the old
people at home, sends frequent and liberal remittances when
once he breathes the purer air of the country, and frees him-
self from the dangerous fascination of the drinking-saloon.

"Whether the money is given as the price of the passage
out, or in the form of a ticket paid for in America, and thus
forwarded to Ireland, or is sent as a means of supplying
some want or relieving a pressing necessity, practically
there is no more thought of it by the donor. It not un-
frequently happens that tickets are returned to the donors,
the persons to whom they were sent having changed their
minds, being unwilling or afraid to leave the old country
for a new home. But the money — recouped through a
friendly agent — is almost invariably sent back, with a re-
mark somewhat in this form : ' I intended it for .you any
way, either in ticket or in money ; and if you won't take it
in ticket, why you must in money. It is yours, anyhow,
and no one else is to have it.'

A large amount is annually expended in the purchase
of tickets at the American side; but this, large as it is,
bears only a small proportion when compared with the
enormous amount sent in the shape of assistance to rela-
tives at home. For instance, there was sent last year
(1866) by one firm in Lowell $44,290; and of this amount
$32,000 were for the material assistance of the friends at
home, and but $12,000 in passage tickets out. The total
amount, though small in comparison to the vast sums sent
from the great cities, is still not a little surprising, when it
is considered that the Irish population, consisting for the
most part of young persons working in mills and factories,

A ' MERCENARY. ' 323

is now about 15,000. From another emigration agent in
the same place, and who is but recently in the business, a
striking instance of liberality is obtained. He says — ' The
most I received at any one time was 20/., or $140, from an
industrious Irish girl in one of our mills.'

The following instance of self-devotion, though not at
all of uncommon occurrence, displays in a still more
striking manner how ready these humble Irish people —
not Scotch-Irish, as the miserable cant of the day has it,
but Irish Celts — are to make every sacrifice for those they
love. A poor Irish labourer emigrated to America in 1861,
in the hope of bettering his condition, and being enabled,
by hard work, to bring out his wife and seven children,
whom he had been compelled to leave after him in Ireland.
It was an unpropitious time for a working man, as the war
had just broken out, and employment was scarce in many
cities of the Union. Ah1 he required was an opportunity
to work, his thoughts being for ever turned to the old land
in which he left those who, he knew, looked to him as their
only hope. For a time he was discouraged and despond-
ing, but he resolved to wait awhile, and take advantage of
any opportunity that would offer, through which he might
be enabled to achieve his grand object — the bringing out
of his wife and family. The opportunity did offer rather
unexpectedly, and in this way — a gentleman who prefer-
red the profits of a lucrative business to the risks of war,
desired to obtain a^ substitute, who would take his place
for three years under the banner of the Union ; and to
secure some one to fight, or possibly die, in his place, he
was willing to pay down One Thousand Dollars. The
poor Irishman heard of this dazzling offer, and at once
accepted it. The money was paid to the substitute, by
whom it was thus disposed of : he placed it in the hands
of a friend, directing him to send part to Ireland, to bring
out his family, and reserve the balance to meet their wants
on arrival — saying, if he was killed in battle, or if he died

324 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of sickness, he had done the best thing he could for his
wife and children. He was quickly marched to the front,
where the hot work was going on ; but though he was in
many a hard-fought battle, and saw death in every shape,
he passed scatheless through the dread ordeal — steel and
lead seemed to have no power to injure him, nor did
hunger and hardship break him down. He returned to
his family, a bronzed war-worn soldier, and is now a hard-
working honest citizen of a New England town. Your
scornful f Special Correspondent ' would no doubt have set
him down as a base mercenary, who hired himself to butcher
his fellow men ; but such was not the opinion of those to
whom the facts were known.

The gentleman — an eminent American physician — to
whom I am indebted for this strong proof of family affec-
tion, says : — ' In my professional visits I have met from
time to time many instances where a father or a child, a
brother or a sister, had made very great efforts and
sacrifices to have enough of money to send to Ireland to
bring out one or more members of their families. These
are noble and -beautiful examples of affection and disin-
terestedness, that have occurred in the obscure and humble
life of the Irish emigrant in America, that cannot be
surpassed, in my opinion, anywhere by sketches to be
found in the biography of individuals or the history of
nations.' The civilised world, less scornful or contemptu-
ous than certain traducers of the humble Irish, will endorse
that opinion.

Few instances of this ' affection and disinterestedness '
could exceed that displayed by a mere child from Kil-
kenny. Pat was but thirteen years old when he

determined, if possible, to go to America, having heard
that he had an uncle who lived in St. Louis, Missouri.
His idea of America was what might be expected from a
child of his age, — his notion being, that every boy in that
favoured country was his own master, and had a pony to

A YOUNG PIONEER. 325

ride whenever he wished for that enjoyment. His motive
in urging his father and mother to consent to his perilous
enterprise was the desire to make his fortune, and be able
to bring out all his family, and make them, according to
the story-book formula, 'as happy as the days are long.'
The parents of the boy allowed themselves to be per-
suaded by him, especially as his uncle would be certain
to receive and take care of him ; and a steerage passage
at New Orleans having been procured, the little fellow
started on his venturous journey. Landing at New
Orleans, he, knowing nothing of the country, imagined
that he could easily walk to St. Louis ! as he might from
Kilkenny to the neighbouring town. Hearing that the
goal of his hopes — the city in which his uncle lived — was
nearly 2,000 miles distant, he was sorely afflicted. He
went from steamboat to steamboat, asking sailor, steward,
and captain, 'did they know his uncle? would they take
him to St. Louis ? ' and telling them his name was Pat.'

Sailors and stewards and captains of the Mississippi boats
are not invariably the mildest of mortals ; therefore it
must not be a matter of surprise that the eager questions
of the poor Irish boy with the beseeching eyes were more
often replied to in a rough and surly manner than other-
wise. If those to whom he applied troubled themselves to
think of him at all, it was as a foolish or importunate cub
who had no business to bother them with his stupid non-
sense. What was his uncle to them ? or did they care a
cent whether his name was Pat Blank or Pat anything
else ? He was bade get about his business, and that quickly
too. The child began to sob and pray ; and as, sobbing
and praying, and sorely bewildered, he was wandering about
the levee, he was remarked by a kind-hearted gentleman,
who asked him why he cried. He replied that he wanted
to go to his uncle in St. Louis, and that no one would
take him, and that he would gladly work his way. The
meeting was providential, for there was not on the

326 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Mississippi a braver, a kinder, or a better man than Captain
Durack, the Irish commander of one of the finest steamers
that ever ran the risk of a snag or a blow-up. The captain
had pity on the helpless child, and took him into his boat,
where he at once made himself useful. In fact, such was
the willing spirit and gentle disposition of the little fellow,
and such his anxiety to oblige everybody, that he became
a general favourite. After a nine days' steaming, the
vessel reached St. Louis, where Pat landed, high in hope,
his pockets containing more money than he had ever
before possessed, the passengers having liberally rewarded
his willing services. He found his uncle, but found him —
a confirmed drunkard, fast sinking into the grave which
his own folly was hourly preparing for him. Cruelly
disappointed in the hopes he had so fondly cherished, the
boy again sought his friend the captain, who adopted him,
and procured for him the appointment of assistant steward
in a steamboat on the Upper Mississippi ; in which position,
the young official earned money rapidly, and acquired the
good wishes of all who knew him. His friend the captain
was made his treasurer, likewise the repository of his hopes
and intentions respecting his family at home. For them
— his father and mother, his brother and two sisters — the
boy offered up many a fervent prayer ; and not unfre-
quently was he observed on his knees under the wheel-
house absorbed in his devotions. The boat, on arriving in
port, would remain for an interval of a week or so, and
during that time the young Irish lad would attend school,
and in this way laid the foundation of his education. While
he was thus employed, carefully hoarding his money, and
acquiring by snatches some of the learning for which he
eagerly strove, he was overwhelmed with the sad news
that reached him from home, — that his father and mother
were both dead, and that his brother and sisters were in
the workhouse ! He was so affected by this distressing in-
telligence, that his health gave way, and his kind protector

A POOR IRISH WIDOW. 327

the captain feared he was falling into a consumption. The
pious boy unburdened his sorrows to a good priest in St.
Louis, who cheered him by his advice and sympathy. The
vision of his little brother and sisters — the latter only eight
and ten years old — in the workhouse, haunted him day
and night. To rescue them from that degrading position,
and bring them out as soon as possible, was now the great
duty of his life; and with this additional motive for
economy, every cent Ii9 could save was entrusted to the
care of his patron and treasurer the captain. He sent
20/. to an uncle in Ireland, to pay for the passages and
outfit of his brother and sisters, reserving something for
their support on their arrival. Having achieved that first
grand work, he next turned his attention to the object
of his fondest ambition — the Priesthood ; and he resolved,
if possible, at once to commence the studies necessary for
that sacred calling. He presented himself to the then
Superior of the College of St. Mary, of the Barens, Mis-
souri, to whom he confided his touching history and his
passionate longing for a religious life. The good Irish
priest was deeply impressed by the simple recital, and
gave the lad a free place in the seminary. The zealous
student soon went through all his studies, was ordained a
priest, and became one of the most efficient missionaries
of the diocese of St. Louis. The children, whom their
brother's love had rescued perhaps from a life of poverty,
arrived safely ; the infant/ sisters were adopted by a
community of the Sacred Heart in the same diocese, and
the brother is a respectable member of one of the learned
professions.

An instance of the courage and energy which a mother's
affection inspires may be given in the simple language of
the poor woman who tells the artless story of her trials.
The family were well off so long as the husband lived ;
but, when he died, the widow was compelled to accept a
few pounds in lieu of valuable improvements which her

328 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

husband had effected on two farms. Left with four chil-
dren, and seeing her little fund diminishing day by day,
and dreading that the poor-house would be their fate if
she did not make some desperate effort to save them from
such a calamity, she resolved to start for America herself,
and there, by hard work, earn as much as would bring
them out; and this determination she resolutely acted
upon. Telling, in happier times of her past trials, she
used these words : —

' Oh, it would break the heart of a stone to see my four
little children on the road, crying after me. My heart,
sure enough, was near breaking with the sorrow that day.
I ran as hard as I could away from them, for they cried and
bawled ; and it was " Oh, mammy, mammy ! Oh, don't
lave us ! Oh come back, mammy, mammy ! " — it went
through and through me like a swoord. I had to look
back, no matter though I- tried not do so, and I thought
the seven senses would jump out of my two eyes. Poor
little Patsey was then about four years old, and he ran
after me, and cried " Mammy, mammy ! " bigger than the
rest. Sure my legs couldn't carry me any farther. He
kissed me, and asked me to give him another penny ; he
didn't know where I was going to, or how long I'd be
away, poor darling. This broke my heart entirely — I de-
clare to you I don't know how I got away from .them — it
was like a bad drame to me. Well, we landed in Quebec,
and I didn't know a sowl on God's earth, but a neighbour's

boy of my own ; and sure I thought that N (meaning

a place nearly a thousand miles away) was the next plough-
land to Quebec! They put me in a boat, and I felt as if it

took us months to come to N , for I was nearly perished

with the could and the hunger. Sure the cattle passengers
are treated better than the Christians. When I came to

N , I lived with a farmer. I worked hard all the day.

and cried the most of the night. No wonder, for I was
wanst full and comfortable at home, with my cows, and

SELF-SACRIFICE. 829

my pigs, and my horses, till my husband died — God rest
his sowl ! But, begonnies, in three months I was able to
send home for the ouldest little girl — she was only nine
years of age. When she came out, it warmed my poor
heart ; but she was a great care to me — I had to pay $4
a month for her boord, and that was hard enough. After
a time I says to myself, "this will never do ; paying $4 a
month won't help me to bring out the rest of the children,
poor things ;" so I went and looked out for another place,
and God sent me one. I hired as a cook, and the little girl
was taken to nurse the babby for her boord. I took great
courage then entirely, and in half a year more I sent for
another of the children. But I axed the priest — who was
from my own place at 'home — to lend me the loan of the
passages for the other two, and I would pay him, as sure as
the Lord was in heaven. He did, sure enough, trust me
with the money, and so he might ; and may the Heavens
be his bed for that same, amen! The three landed safe
into my arms ; then I felt I was a happy woman — and I
cried that night at my prayers — but it was not like the
scalding tears on the road, when I was laving them, and
every step was like tareing the heart clane out of me :
them tears, that night, did me good. The children were
soon able to earn for themselves, and now, thanks be to
the Lord! we are all comfortable and happy — no thanks
to the villain of a landlord for that same ; and the big
boy, the Lord mark him to grace! is now able to read
his fine books of Greek and Latin, and knows more than
Murty Dermody, the schoolmaster in our parts. Oh, the
health was a grand thing ; that and the help of the Lord,
glory be to his holy name ! got .me througji ; for, if I had
a pain or an ache, the fear would come on me — and what
would become of the children ? 'Twas hard work enough ;
but sure the Lord fits the back to the burthen.'

'It would be quite impossible,' said a Sister of Mercy
of New York, 'to relate half the instances of heroic sa-

330 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

orifices made for parents or other relatives by Irish girls
that come to our knowledge.' Not the less heroic, that
they are entirely divested of dramatic interest or sen-
sational attraction. Hannah Finn, a poor girl from the
county of Limerick, was^not just the person or the type
a novelist or a poet would have chosen for story or for
verse ; and yet her life was one of the most complete self-
sacrifice. At home she had toiled on a farm, and was
therefore unaccustomed to house-work ; yet, on her arrival
in New York, whither she came in order that she might
more effectually assist the old people whom she could not
bring with her, she hired herself as 'cook's helper' in one
of its hotels, preferring that situation to an easier place,
that she might earn higher wages, and thus have more to
send to her parents, to whose comfort she devoted her life.
Twice a year she sent to them all the money she had
saved, and always to the care of the parish priest. In the
midst of her hard patient toil she received the sad tidings
of her father being obliged 'to leave the land,' at which
her heart was sorely troubled. But she only toiled the
harder, and saved the more. On the next occasion she
was sending money, the Sister who wrote the letter for
her wished to direct it to the place indicated by the girl's
mother — the village to which the landless couple had
removed ; but Hannah persisted in sending it to the care
of her former pastor, declaring that she would not send a
penny of her money to any one else. She continued to send
her earnings regularly home as long as the old people
lived ; and soon after their death — her mission being now
accomplished — she herself died of dropsy. To the charity
of others she was indebted for assistance during her last
illness, she having given everything to her parents, and
reserved nothing for herself. The story of Hannah Finn,
the poor county Limerick girl, the patient drudge in the
New York kitchen, is that of many an Irish girl in America,
to which they have emigrated rather with the purpose

THE AMOUNT SENT. 331

of helping those at home than of advancing their own
fortunes.

When a passage is paid for by an Irish emigrant to
bring out a member of the family, it is the custom, when
sending the ticket, to accompany it with a few pounds to
defray incidental expenses.

As a rule, those who are newly-come send more and
make greater sacrifices to bring out their relatives, or to
assist them at home, than those who have been longer in
the country : the wants of the family in the old country
are more vividly present to the mind of the recent emi-
grant, and perhaps the affections are warmer and stronger
than in after years, when time and distance, and the cares
or distractions of a new existence, have insensibly dulled
the passionate longings of yore. But thousands — many,
many thousands — of Irish girls have devoted, do devote,
and will devote their lives, and sacrifice every woman's
hope, to the holiest, because the most unselfish, of all affec-
tions— that of family and kindred.

'I would say, from my own experience, as agent and
otherwise/ remarked an agent in a New* England State,
that emigration will never cease with Irish families, as
long as any portion of them remain at each side of the
Atlantic, and as long as those at this side find means to
send for those they left behind — or so long as the Irish
nature remains what it is ; and I must say I can't see much
change in it as yet.'

That the amount of money sent from America, includ-
ing the British provinces to Ireland, cannot be far from
24,000,000/. I feel assured. The Commissioners of Emi-
gration, in their report of 1863, return the amount as
12,642,000/. But they say it would not be unreasonable to
estimate the amount, of which there are no returns, as half
a.s much again as that of which there are returns. Taking this
rather moderate estimate, the gross amount to the close of
18G2 would reach 19,000,000^. That at least a million a

332 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

year has been sent since then, must be assumed. For
last year — 1866 — the Commissioners put down the amount
at less than half a million. But I am aware that, for that
year, one bank or society in New York — the Irish Emi-
grant Society — remitted over 100,000/. to Ireland, and
that some 130,000/., was sent by agents in Boston whom
I could name. Here, then, is more than half the entire
amount of which the Commissioners have any official
knowledge. In many cities I personally know bankers or
agents who sent amounts varying from 20,OOOZ. to 30,000£. ;
and there is scarcely a place of any importance, or in
which there is an Irish population, however inconsider-
able, from which some contribution does not go to the
old country, for one purpose or another. If, then, we add
a million a year to the nineteen millions estimated by
the Emigration Commissioners, we have, up to the 1st of
January 1868, the amazing sum of 24,000,000?. sent by the
Irish abroad to their relatives at home.* In the history
of the world there is nothing to match this. It is a fact
as glorious as stupendous, and may well stand against the
sneers and calumnies of a century. .

* Remittances from the Irish in Australia must be included in the gross result.

CHAPTEK XVHL

The Character of Irish Women in America— An Unwelcome
Baptism — The Universal Testimony — Shadows — Perils to Fe-
male Virtue— Irish Girls ; their Value to the Race.

A QUESTION of unspeakable importance may be thus
put, — is it true that Irish women maintain in America
their traditional reputation for virtue ? Unhesitatingly,
it must be answered in the affirmative. Whatever estimate
Americans may form of their Irish fellow-citizens, be that
estimate favourable or unfavourable, there is but one
opinion as to the moral character of Irish women. Their
reputation for purity does not rest on the boastful asser-
tions of those who either regard all matters concerning
their race or country from a favourable point of view, or
who, to gratify a natural feeling, would wilfully exaggerate,
or possibly misstate a fact : • it is universally admitted.
"Were it otherwise — were this reputation not well-founded,
sad indeed would be the calamity to the Irish in America,
— to their character, position, future — to them and to
their descendants. Happily, no such calamity is likely to
befall the Irish in America, as the loss to the Irish woman
of her pre-eminent reputation for purity and honour.
Prejudices, strong prejudices, there are in the States, as in
all countries in which diversity of race and religion exists ;
and where this diversity comprehends race and religion in
the same individuals, these prejudices are certain to be the
stronger and the more deeply rooted. The Irish Catholic

331 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

has to contend against this double prejudice, which never-
theless is not powerful enough to interfere with the con-
viction, indeed admission, as to the moral character of the
women of that country and that faith. The poor Irish
emigrant girl may possibly be rude, undisciplined, awkward
— just arrived in a strange land, with all the rugged
simplicity of her peasant's training ; but she is good and
honest. Nor, as she rapidly acquires the refinement in-
separable from an improved condition of life, and daily
association with people of cultivated manners, does she
catch the contagion of the vices of the great centres of
wealth and luxury. Whatever her position, — and it is
principally amongst the humble walks of life the mass of
the Irish are still to be found, — she maintains this one
noble characteristic — purity. In domestic service her merit
is fully recognised. Once satisfied of the genuineness of
her character, an American family will trust in her
implicitly ; and not only is there no locking up against
her, but everything is left in her charge. Occasionally she
may be hot tempered, difficult to be managed, perhaps a
little ' turbulent ' — especially when her country is sneered
at, or her faith is wantonly ridiculed ; but she is cheerful
and laborious, virtuous and faithful.

An instance of very legitimate ' turbulence ' occurred
not long since in one of the most rising of the great
Western cities. There lived, as a 'help,' in the house of
a Protestant family, an intelligent and high-spirited Irish
girl, remarkable for her exemplary conduct, and the zeal
with which she discharged the duties of her position.
Kate acted as a mother to a young brother and sister,
whom she was bringing up with the greatest care ; and a
happy girl was Kate when she received good tidings of
their progress in knowledge and piety. Kate, like many
other people in the world, had her special torment, and
that special torment was a playful-minded preacher who
visited at the house, and who looked upon ' Bridget ' — he

AN UNWELCOME BAPTISM. 335

would call her Bridget — as a fair butt for the exercise of
his pleasant wit, of which he was justly proud. It was
Kate's duty to attend table ; and no sooner did she make
her appearance in the dining-room, than the playful
preacher commenced his usual fun, which would be some-
what in this fashion : ' Well, Bridget, my girl ! when did
you pray last to the Virgin Mary ? Tell me, Bridget, when
were you with Father Pat ? What did you give him,
Bridget ? What did the old fellow ask for the absolution
this time ? Now, I guess it was ten cents for the small sins,
and $1 for the thumpers! Come now, Bridget, tell me
what penance did that priest of yours give you ? ' Thus
would the agreeable jester pelt the poor Irish girl with his
generous pleasantries, to the amusement of the thoughtless,
but to the serious annoyance of the fair-minded, who did
not like to see her feelings so wantonly wounded. The
mistress of the house mildly remonstrated with her ser-
vant's lively tormentor, though she did not herself admire
* Bridget's ' form of prayer, and was willing to regard
' Feather Pat's ' absolution as a matter of bargain and sale.
But the wit should have his way. ' Bridget ' was a hand-
some girl, and the rogue liked to see the fire kindle in her
grey eye, and the hot blood mantle over her fair round
cheek ; and then the laughter of his admirers was such
delightful incense to his vanity, as peal after peal told
how successfully the incorrigible wag ' roasted Bridget/
On one memorable day, however, his love of the humor-
ous carried him just too far. A large company was as-
sembled round the hospitable table of the mistress of the
house. The preacher was present, and was brimming over
with merriment. Kate entered the room, bearing a large
tureen of steaming soup in her hands. ' Ho, ho, Bridget 1
—how are you; Bridget? Well, Bridget, what did you
pay Father Pat for absolution this time? Come to me,
Bridget, and I will give you as many dollars as will set
you all straight with the old fellow for the next six months,

336 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and settle your account with purgatory too. Now, Bridget,
tell us how many cents for each sin ? ' The girl had just
reached the preacher as he finished his little joke ; and if
he wished to see the Irish eye flash out its light, and the
Irish blood burn in the cheek, he had an excellent oppor-
tunity for enjoying that treat. It was Bridget's turn to
be playful. Stopping next to his chair, and looking him
steadily in his face, while she. grasped the tureen of rich
green-pea soup more firmly in her hands, she said : ' Now,
sir, I often asked you to leave me alone, and not mind
me, and not to insult me or my religion, what no real
gentleman would do to a poor girl ; and now, sir, as you
want to know what I pay for absolution, here's my an-
swer ! ' and, suiting the action to the word, she flung the
hot steaming liquid over the face, neck, breast — entire per-
son— of the playful preacher ! A ' header ' in one of Mr.
Boucicault's dramas could not have produced a more start-
ling effect than did this unexpected baptism. The con-
dition of the preacher may best be described as abject:
morally as well as physically, he was overwhelmed. Kate
rushed to her room, locked herself in, and relieved her
excitement in a cry — ' as if her heart would break.' In a
short time her mistress tapped at the door, told her to
come out, that all was right, and that Mr. Blank was sorry
that he had annoyed her — as, no doubt, he was. The sen-
timent— the generous American sentiment — was in Kate's
favour, as she might have perceived in the manner of the
guests. For the poor preacher, it may be said that the
soup ' spoiled .his dinner ' for that day. He did not make
his appearance again for some time ; but when he did, it
was as an altered and much-improved gentleman, who
appeared to have lost ah1 interest in the religious pecu-
liarities of Kate, whom, strange to say, he never more
called by the name of Bridget. The warm bath, so vigor-
ously administered, had done him much service — Kate
said, ' a power of good.'

THE GRANDEST TESTIMONY OF ALL. 337

When once her worth is recognised, the most unlimited
trust is placed in the Irish girl. There are thousands of
houses in the United States in which everything is left to
her charge and under her control ; and, unless in some
rare instances, in which fanaticism is more than a match
for common sense, the more devoted she is to the practices
of her religion, the more she is respected and confided in
by those with whom she lives. Occasional betrayals of
trust there may be, for humanity is not perfect ; but as a
rule, broad and sweeping, confidence and kindness are re-
warded with unswerving fidelity.

In the hotels of America the Irish girl is admittedly
indispensable. Through the ordeal of these fiery furnaces
of temptation she passes unscathed. There, where honesty
and good conduct are most essential, she is found equal
to the test, while in cheerful wilhng industry none can
surpass her. Such is the testimony which is readily borne
to the Irish girl in every State of the Union.

I remember asking one of the best-known hotel proprie-
tors of America, why it was that all the young women
in the establishment were Irish, and his replying — 'The
thing is very simple : the Irish girls are industrious,
willing, cheerful, and honest — they work hard, and they
are strictly moral. I should say that is quite reason
enough.' I agreed with him.

There are testimonies, also, borne to her in a very differ-
ent spirit, but equally honouring — those extorted from
the baffled tempter, who finds all his arts of seduction fail
before the seven-fold shield of an austerity as unexpected
as unwished-for. Nothing is more common than for one
who has failed in his attempts against the honour of an
Irish girl to warn his companions from a similar folly —
'Oh, hang her! — don't lose your time with her; she is

one of those d d Irish girls — the priest has a hold of

her — she goes to confession, and all that kind of nonsense
— don't lose your time, for it's no use.' Quite true : temp-

15

338 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

tations assail her in vain ; in her faith and piety she is
invincible.

The Irish woman is naturally religious ; the fervent
character of her mind is adapted to devotional enthusiasm ;
and in the practices of her faith she finds occupation for
her leisure time, as well as strength for her soul and con-
solation for her heart. If she happen to be in a new
mission, where everything — church, school, asylum, hospi-
tal— is to be erected, she enters into the holy task with
congenial ardour. To build up, finish, or decorate a
church — to her, the House of God and Temple of her An-
cient Faith — she contributes with generous hand. It is
the same in a long-established parish, whose spiritual
necessities keep pace with its growing population; there,
also, the Irish girl is unfailing in her liberality. To her
there is no idea of making a sacrifice of her means ; she
gives as well as a pleasure as from a feeling of duty. Ap-
peal to her in the name of her religion or country, for the
sick or the suffering, and seldom indeed is it that there is
no response from her purse and her heart. The Irish girl
— whether in store, factory, hotel, or domestic employ-
ment— takes pride in renting a seat in her church, which
she has so materially helped to erect ; and in nearly every
city in the Union she may be seen occupying her place in
her pew, neat in person, modest in deportment, and col-
lected in manner — as true an honour to her race and
country as though the blood of princes flowed in her veins.
Thus is maintained over her that religious control which
is her own best preservative against danger, and which,
while forming and strengthening her character, enables her
to bring a salutary influence to bear upon her male re-
latives, and in case of her marriage — a contingency most
probable — upon her husband and children. And this is
how the purity and piety of the Irish women are of price-
less value to the Irish in America.

To assert that there are no dark shadows to this picture,

SHADOWS. 339

no murky tints to throw out in stronger relief its pre-
vailing brightness of colour, would be to assert an untruth
at once foolish and mischievous. There are dark shadows,
there are murky tints — there are exceptions to a rule
which is almost universal. Under ordinary circumstances
the rule is absolutely in favour of the high moral character
of Irish women in America ; but there are in some of the
great cities circumstances not favourable to female virtue ;
and these are attended with occasional injury to the repu-
tation of Irish girls.

It is well known that America, while the home of the
strong, the adventurous, the honest and industrious of the
emigrants from Europe, is also the asylum of the broken-
down and the unfortunate. Female frailty seeks refuge
from exposure in those convenient hiding-places, the great
cities of the Western World. Nor is it always the case
that a first fall is atoned for by a future of virtue, or even
a career of prudence ; and thus the sad wreck which has
happened at one side of the ocean is unfairly counted
against the moral character of the race at the other. Here
then, in the first place, is frailty imported from the old
country, and under circumstances not altogether favourable
to reformation and moral strength.

Then, without seeking other evidence than may be found
in public records, and in the statute-book of the United
States, it can be shown how fatal to youth and inex-
perience has been the long passage in the emigrant sail-
ing ship. As mentioned elsewhere, Congress was com-
pelled, so late as 1860, to pass a law for the protection of
female passengers from the foul and systematic attempts
of officers and seamen to effect their min. Regulations
have been made, rules laid down, penalties proclaimed,
notices posted, partitions and barriers erected ; but all pre-
cautionary measures have been, in too many instances,
found ineffectual to counteract the watchful wickedness of
evil men, and the utter defencelessness of women exposed

340 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to the perils of a protracted sea-voyage. Even so late as
1866 the Government Commissioner of Emigration reports
to the Secretary of State that these protective laws have
been systematically violated, and calls for more stringent
measures. Nor when the poor Irish girl has escaped her
e'nemy on ship-board, and reached the shelter of Castle
Garden, is she entirely in safety ; and not rarely has it
occurred that the indignant officials have beaten back the
prowling wolf, as he sought to get his intended victim with-
in his grasp. Numerous instances, not alone of seduction
on board ship, but of lawless violence, are on record ; but
the Act of 1860 is of itself sufficient evidence of the fact
that protection was required, without the necessity of its
illustration by harrowing and revolting details.

Terribly suggestive of ruin to female honour were the
words addressed by Mr. Thurlow Weed in 1864, on the
occasion of laying the foundation stone of the Emigrant
Hospital at Ward's Island. Referring to the helpless
condition of the emigrant before the present admirable
system was organised in New York, he says : 'Families
were frequently plundered of all the money they possessed,
and left to the charity of the city. Young and friendless
females coming from abroad, to find their friends, or
seeking employment, were not unfrequently outraged.'
Again : ' Thousands of emigrants arrived with railroad
tickets purchased abroad, for which they had paid not only
double and treble the regular fare, but upon their arrival
here, they found themselves with bogus tickets and bogus
drafts. Innocent and unprotected girls came consigned to
houses of prostitution.' Mr. Weed was referring to what
frequently occurred some years before ; but it is notorious
that similar evils have existed at a later period, and are not
yet effectually suppressed. The panderers to the lust of
great cities are constantly on the watch to drag into their
dens of infamy the young, the innocent, and the unsuspect-
ing. There is scarcely a House of Protection under the care

PERILS TO FEMALE VIRTUE. 341

of a Keligious Order in America, which cannot record cases
of young girls snatched from the jaws of danger. Many,
it is true, are saved ; but what can the helpless do against
the snares and traps and frauds of those who live by the
vilest crime ? The contest is unequal : the lamb is helpless
in the talons of the vulture, or the fangs of the wolf. As a
single instance of the peril awaiting the unsuspecting, may
be mentioned that of a young and handsome Irish girl who
was lately trapped into hiring, in a Western city, with a
person of infamous character. She was fortunately ob-
served by a poor old Irish woman, who, knowing the peril
in which the young creature stood, boldly rushed to her
rescue, and, at personal risk to herself, literally tore the
prey from the grasp of the enemy. The rescued girl was
taken to the Refuge in the Convent of Mercy, where she
wras at once in safety ; and though she lost all her clothes,
save those in which she then stood, she congratulated her-
self that she had never crossed the threshold of a house of
ill-fame.

Perils by sea, and perils by land, is it wonderful that
fraud and violence so often triumph over innocence and
helplessness ? — that human wrecks occasionally strew the
highways of the centres of wealth, of luxury, and of vice ?

I have in another place referred to the evils of over-
crowding, in lowering the tone of the community, and
exposing the humbler classes to dangers of various kinds,
moral as well as sanitary. Besides the temptations of
poverty and passion, of youth and thoughtlessness, there
is the terrible mischief of daily and hourly association in
the densely-populated lodging-house, in which it too often
happens that, even with the best intentions, the most
ordinary decency cannot be maintained. There is not a
physician or a clergyman in New York who will not say
that this system is fraught with danger to the health of
soul and body. It is in the last degree unfavourable to
the development of virtue ; and the same state of things,

342 THE IRISH IN AMERICA

wherever it is to be found, whether East or West, North
or South, must be productive of evil fruits.

There are also the natural consequences of the vicious
habits of parents — the drunkenness of the father or the
mother, more usually the former — so fatal to the character
of their children. This habit alone is quite as destructive
in its consequences as orphanage, which, from this more
than any other cause, is so prevalent in America, where, at
least in the towns, the average duration of human life —
especially that of the hard-working classes who are not
temperate — is so short. Then there is vanity, love of
dress, and perhaps individual perversity, acted upon
through all the evil influences of great cities — with the
wiles and snares of the fowler ever spread for the destruc-
tion of the fluttering bird. These and other causes will
explain why it is, that in some, yet comparatively few,
places in America a certain percentage of women of bad
repute are necessarily of Irish origin.

But, however deplorable that, in any part of the United
States, Irish women should form an appreciable percentage
of the whole of the class of unfortunates, still, when com-
pared with the Irish female population of those great cities,
whether Irish born or of Irish extraction, the number is
small indeed. In very many places the proportion is in-
finitessimal ; and there are cities and districts throughout
the States in which there has never been known an instance
of an Irish girl having come to shame — in which the
character of the Irish woman is the pride and glory of all
who belong to the old country, or have a drop of genuine
Irish blood in their veins.

I have frequently marked with interest, how the counte-
nance of the faithful pastor brightened with enthusiasm as
the good conduct of the female portion of his flock was
the theme of conversation. I remember an excellent Irish
priest — one of those men who are justly looked upon as
the fathers of their people — describing the character of his

IRISH GIRLS— THEIR VALUE TO THE RACE. 343

congregation. It was in a town of considerable importance,
eminent for its manufacturing industry, and in which the
Irish element was particularly strong. 'Good, sir! the
Irish girls good! Why, sir,' said their pastor, 'the fall of
an Irish girl in this town is as rare as — as — as a white
blackbird ' — and a pleasant laugh imparted additional
raciness to an illustration which its author regarded as
both neat and happy. ' Our Irish girls are an honour to
their country and their race — they are the glory of the
Church ; to their influence we look for much of what we
hope for in the future. They will yet lift the men to
their level by the force of their example.' This was the
grave testimony borne by a Western Bishop. ' They are
the salvation of their race in this country — the salt of the
earth,' said an enthusiastic Southern Prelate.' The salt of
the earth, indeed ; and if the salt should lose its savour,
wherewith shah1 the earth be salted? 'My belief is, that
the Holy Ghost has them in special charge, for the good
they do, and the evil they prevent.' This was the wind-up
of a long eulogium pronounced upon Irish girls by an emi-
nent ecclesiastic, who spoke with all the earnestness and
gravity of the most profound conviction.

That would be a sad day for the Irish in America when
Irish women lost the reputation which, notwithstanding
the evil produced by adverse circumstances and special
causes, they universally enjoy. The Irish nature is im-
petuous and impulsive and passionate, and the young are
too often liable to confound license with the display of
manly independence ; hence even the light yoke of the
Church is occasionally too burdensome for the high-mettled
Irish youth, in an especial degree the American-born sons of
Irish parents. In what, then, if not in the beautiful faith
and piety, the unblemished purity of Irish women — in the
never-failing example of sister, wife, and mother — are
those who love the race to look for a counteracting
influence to a freedom fraught with danger, and for that

344 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

strong yet delicate chain of gold with which to bind the
wayward and the headstrong to the Church of their fathers?
As yet, as possibly for some time to come, congregations are
more numerous than churches, flocks than pastors, children
than schools or teachers — such schools and teachers as are
most required; and in the meantime, until in churches
and pastors, schools and teachers, protection is everywhere
afforded to endangered youth, in the piety and purity of
the sister and the mother is there the best safeguard
against the risk of apostacy, and the deadlier blight of
infidelity. Long may the virtue of Irish women constitute
one of the noblest claims on the respect and sympathy of
the generous-minded people of America !

CHAPTEK XIX.

The Catholic Church— The Irish— The Church not afraid of
Freedom — A Contrast — Who the Persecutors were — The Ameri-
can Constitution — Washington's Reply to the Catholics — The
First Church in New York— Boston in 1790— Universality of the
Church — Early Missions — Two Great Orders — Mrs. Seton — Mrs.
Seton founds her Order — Early Difficulties and Privations — Irish
Sisters.

TO their countrymen throughout the world the spiritual
condition of the Irish in America cannot be other-
wise than a matter of the deepest interest, inasmuch as
their material progress in the New World must of necessity,
and to a considerable extent, depend on the moral and
religious influence brought to bear upon them and their
children. The great mass of the Irish in the United
States, as in Ireland, are of the Catholic faith : therefore,
in order to ascertain what is the spiritual condition of the
Irish in America, what the spiritual provision for them, we
must enquire as to the position and prospects of the Catho-
lic Church in that country.

But first, before doing so, it is necessary to refer to
statements which have been made by some, and relied on
by others, as to the alleged falling away of the Irish from
the faith of their fathers. Were this statement true, it
should be a matter of regret to every Irishman worthy of
that name ; for nothing could be more calamitous to the
race, or more damaging to the honour of their country,
than the loss of that which maintains over the Irish heart
the most salutary of all influences. Happily for the Irish
in America, these statements are the result of exaggerated
alarm, or reckless invention.

346 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

It has been confidently stated that the moment the Irish
touch the free soil of America, they lose the old faith — that
there is something in the very nature of republican insti-
tutions fatal to the Church of Rome. Admitting, as a fact
which cannot be denied, and which Catholics are them-
selves the first to proclaim, that there has been some,
even considerable, falling oft1 from the Church, and no
little indifferentism, it must be acknowledged that there
has been less of both than, from the circumstances of the
country, might have been reasonably expected ; and that
the same Irish, whose alleged defection en masse has been
the theme of ungenerous triumph to those whose 'wish
was father to the thought,' have done more to develop the
Church, and extend her dominion throughout the wide
continent of North America, than even the most devoted
of the children of any other of the various races who, with
them, are merged in the great American nation. This
much may be freely conceded to them, even by those who
are most sensitively and justly proud of what their own
nationality has done to promote the glory of the Universal
Church. Fortified by suffering and trial at home, and
inheritors of memories which intensify devotion rather
than weaken fidelity, the Irish brought with them a strong
faith, the power to resist as well as the courage to per-
severe, and that generosity of spirit which has ever
prompted mankind to make large sacrifices for the pro-
motion of their religious belief.

Those who foolishly think, or pretend to think, that
there is something in republican institutions fatal to the
extension and influence of the Catholic Church, must be
ignorant of, or wilfully ignore, the evidence of history, or
what is going on in the world at the present day ; or must
have conceived the most erroneous impressions concerning
the actual position of the Church in the United States.
Not only, throughout her long and chequered history, has
the Church flourished under republican governments, and

THE CHURCH NOT AFRAID OF FREEDOM. 347

that at this moment among her faithful subjects are to be
found the most strenuous supporters of republican institu-
tions, as in America and the Catholic Cantons of Switzer-
land ; but it is one of the striking characteristics of the
Church — conceded to her even by her enemies — that she
has the marvellous faculty of adapting herself to every
form of government, and to every description of human
institution. Instinctively conservative — that is, of those
great principles which lie at the root of all civil govern-
ment, and are reverenced in every well-ordered state of
society — she fully appreciates the blessings of liberty, and
flourishes in vigour under the very freest form of national
constitution. In every region she is readily acclimated —
in every soil she takes firm hold ; nay, even where she is
trampled upon and persecuted, the sweeter is the odour
she gives forth.

Her progress in the United States has not been over a
path bestrewn with roses ; but not only are the persecu-
tions and sufferings of other days the glory of the present
hour, but they have given her strengh to meet with forti-
tude, and endure with undiminished confidence, those
spasmodic outbursts of violence which are born of the
mad frenzy of the moment. Under the wise guidance of
able and sagacious prelates, no less patriots than churchmen
— devoted to the greatness and renown of the noble coun-
try of theu* birth or of their adoption — the Catholic Church
is not only adapting herself to the genius of the American
people, and in complete harmony with her institutions,
but, so far as her influence extends, is one of the most
efficient means of maintaining social order and promoting
public contentment. And we shall see how, in the
moment of the gravest peril that ever overtook a people
or tried a church, when others waved the torch and rang
the tocsin peal, she retained her holy serenity in tho
midst of strife ; and while sounds of hate and fury rever-
berated through so-called temples of religion, she calmly

348 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

preached her mission of peace on earth to men of good
will.

That there has been falling away, is true — that there
is indifference, no one can doubt ; but the falling away
is not what exaggeration has represented it to be, and
is moreover largely compensated by the most valuable
acquisitions ; and the spirit of indifferentism, which is the
form of religious disease most prevalent in the United
States, is steadily yielding to the zeal of the Church, and
its fuller and more perfect organisation.

To appreciate rightly what has been accomplished, we
must look back ; and in order to understand what the
Church had to contend with, what obstacles she had to
surmount, what she had to create and build up, it is essen-
tial that a sketch — for anything more formal would be
impossible, and indeed out of place, in this volume — should
be given of her position before and at the period when the
emigration from Europe began seriously to influence the
population of the United States.

So long as England retained her power in her American
colonies, persecution and proscription were the lot of her
Catholic subjects. It was the same at both sides of the
Atlantic — cruel laws and degrading disabilities. If any-
thing, her colonial governors and legislators outdid in
violence and malignity the policy of the mother country ;
for, strange as it must appear, and however dishonouring
to our human nature, it is nevertheless the fact, that those
who fled from persecution, who braved the stormy ocean
in frail vessels, to escape from the tyranny of a sect or
a government, became relentless in their persecution of
others who, like themselves, had hoped to find a peaceful
home and a safe asylum in a new and happy country.
The Puritans of New England outdid, in their fierce in-
tolerance, those whose milder tyranny had compelled
them to seek relief in exile, The contrast offered by the
different policy pursued by Catholic and Puritan colonists

A CONTRAST. 340

should put to shame those who are so lavish in their accu-
sations of Catholic persecution. When the Catholics had
power or influence, they proclaimed the broadest toleration,
the fullest liberty to every sect of Christians; while, on
the contrary, not only were Catholics in a special degree
the objects of persecution in every colony, and by every
governor or legislature, but the zealots who persecuted
them did not refrain from persecuting people of other de-
nominations. We may refer to the conduct of the Catholic
settlers of Maryland, and of the Catholics during the only
time they ever possessed any influence in the State of New
York, and contrast their enlightened policy with the laws
against Quakers and Catholics — the latter of which laws
were not erased from the statute-book until after America
had accomplished her independence.

The code of the New England colonies was conceived in
the most ferocious spirit, and was enforced with relent-
less severity. A single extract from the law passed at
Plymouth on the 14th of October 1657, will be sufficient
to display the mild and Christian policy of those who
themselves had suffered for conscience' sake :

And it is further enacted, that if any Quaker or Quakers shall pre-
sume, after they have once suffered what the law requireth, to come
into this jurisdiction, every such male Quaker shall, for the first
offence, Jtave one of his ears cut off, and be kept at work in the house
of correction till he can be sent away at his own charge ; and for the
second offence, shatt have the other ear cut off, &c., and be kept at the
house of correction as aforesaid. And every woman Quaker that
hath suffered the law here, that shall presume to come into this juris-
diction, shall be severely whipt, and kept at the house of correction
till she be sent away at her own charge, and so also for her coming
again she shall be alike used as aforesaid. And for every Quaker, he
or she, that shall a third time herein again offend, they shall have their
tongues bored through with a hot iron, and kept at the house of correc-
tion till they be sent away at their own charge.

The offence thus fiendishly punished was the mere
coming of any of these harmless people within the jurisdic-

350 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

tion of those ardent worshippers of human freedom and
religious liberty. It were hard to say whether the Puritan
was more ferociously in earnest in his persecution of
Quakers and Catholics, or in his extermination of witches
— for a profound belief in witchcraft was one of the most
striking evidences of his enlightenment and good sense.

Bancroft, the historian of America, thus describes the
state of things in the Catholic colony of Baltimore : —

Yet the happiness of the colony was enviable. The persecuted and
the unhappy thronged to the domains of the benevolent prince. If
Baltimore was, in one sense, a monarch — like Miltiades at Chersonesus,
and other founders of colonies of old — his monarchy was tolerable to
the exile who sought for freedom and repose. Numerous ships found
employment in his harbours. The white labourer rose rapidly to the
condition of a free proprietor; the female emigrant was sure to im-
prove her condition, and the cheerful charities of home gathered round
her in the New World » . » . r. - .

Emigrants arrived from every clime ; and the colonial legislature
extended its sympathies to many nations, as well as to many sects.
From France came Huguenots; from Germany, from Holland, from
Sweden, from Finland, I believe from Piedmont, the children of mis-
fortune sought protection under the tolerant sceptre of the Roman Catho-
lic. Bohemia itself, 'the country of Jerome and of Huss, sent forth
their sons, who at once were made citizens of Maryland with equal
franchises. The empire of justice and humanity, according to the
light of those days, had been complete but for the sufferings of the
people called Quakers. Yet they were not persecuted for their reli-
gious worship, which was held publicly, and without interruption.
' The truth was received with reverence and gladness ;' and with
secret satisfaction George Fox relates that members of the legislature
and the council, persons of quality, and justices of the peace, were
present at a large and very heavenly meeting.

This was in 1668, but in a few years after the arrival of
William Penn, the Quakers had full justice done to them,
In Catholic Maryland there had been no ear-cropping,
no boring of tongues with hot pokers — such exhibitions of
brotherly love and mercy were reserved for the Puritans
of Plymouth.

' The apologist of Lord Baltimore,' ' says Bancroft,

WHO THE PERSECUTORS WERE. 351

' could assert that his government, in conformity with his
strict and repeated injunctions, had never given disturb-
ance to any person in Maryland for matter of religion ;
that the colonists enjoyed freedom of conscience, not less
than freedom of person and estate, as amply as ever any
people in any place in the world. The disfranchised friends
of prelacy from Massachusetts, and the Puritan from Vir-
ginia, ivere welcomed to equal liberty of conscience and political
rights in the Roman Catholic province of Maryland.' These
halcyon days did not long continue ; for when the Pro-
testants got the upper hand in Maryland, they persecu-
ted the Catholics, who had extended toleration and lib-
erty to all !

We shah1 now see how Catholics were treated in New
York. In 1683 Colonel Thomas Dongan, a Catholic, was
sent out as governor, and under his liberal administration
the legislative assembly — the first which was convoked —
proclaimed that ' no person or persons, which profess faith
in God by Jesus Christ, shall at any time be any way
molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for
any difference of opinion or matter of religious concern-
ment, who do not actually disturb the civil peace of the
province ; but that all and every such person or persons
may, from time to time, and at all times, freely have and
fully enjoy his or their judgments or consciences, in matters
of religion, throughout all the province — they behaving
themselves peaceably and quietly, and not using this liberty
to licentiousness, nor to the civil injury, nor outward dis-
turbance of others.' By another article, aU denominations
then in the province were secured the free exercise of their
discipline and forms, and the same privilege extended to
such as might come. Bancroft describes this Charter of
Liberty as eliminating ' the intolerance and superstition of
the early codes of Puritanism.'

The New York Assembly of 1691 declared null and void
the acts of the Assembly of 1683, and, instead of the Char-

352 [THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ter of Liberties, passed a Bill of Bights, which expressly
excluded Catholics from all participation in the privileges
which it conferred. It had been the same in Maryland,
where Catholics had first proclaimed religious liberty, and
where the Protestants, who soon gained the ascendancy ?
proscribed the Papists and their creed. *

In 1690 a wicked law was passed, enacting that any
priest coming into the colony, or remaining in it after a
certain day, should be deemed an incendiary and disturber
of the public peace and safety, and an enemy to the true
Christian religion, and adjudged to suffer perpetual im-
prisonment. If he escaped, and were retaken, death- was
the penalty. And any one who harboured a priest was
made liable to a fine of 300Z., and to stand three days in
the pillory. In 1701 Catholics were excluded from office,
and deprived of the right of voting ; and in the following
year they were specially excluded from sharing in the
liberty of conscience granted by Queen Anne to all the
inhabitants of New York.

It may be easily imagined that, whatever their condi-
tion at home, there was little inducement for Irish Catho-
lics to emigrate to the American colonies while under
British rule, and so long as the spirit of their laws was
more than a faithful reflection of the odious intolerance
breathing in every page of the statute-book of England.
They did come, nevertheless, and, though not in great
numbers, they were to be found scattered over the country
in various directions, and carrying on business in New
York and other of the principal cities.

The Bevolution did much for the Catholics of America,
if not to change the public sentiment in their favour, at
least to afford them relief from positive persecution. No
doubt, men of just and generous minds, like Washington,
would, without the pressure of special circumstances, have

* Shea's ' Catholic Church in the United States.'

THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. 363

been willing to extend the same liberty to Catholics as to
all other religious sects ; but had there not existed the
necessity of endeavouring to conciliate, or even neutralise,
the Catholics of Canada, and of not offending the pride of
France, a Catholic nation which had rendered such material
assistance to the revolted colonies of England, it is possible
they might not so soon have been allowed to participate in
the full measure of freedom secured to the citizens of the
infant republic. Even the fact that Catholics — soldiers
and merchants, and among them gallant and high-spirited
Irishmen — distinguished themselves by their heroism and
generosity in the cause of American Independence, would
not, of itself, have been sufficient to break down the bar-
riers of exclusiveness which intolerance and fanaticism had
raised against the just claims of that faithful but persecuted
body of Christians.

There is little mention made of religious matters in the
Constitution, but what is there proclaimed has often since
been appealed to, and will many times again be appealed
to, as the solemn declaration of a great and fundamental
principle of religious toleration and equality. 'No reli-
' gious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any
'office or public trust under the United States.' 'Con-
'gress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
'religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' This
is the entire ; but it was like a grand key-note, to regulate
all future legislation, which ought to be in harmony with
the principle embodied in these few but memorable words.
It rather pointed out to the thirteen States then in the
Union what they ought to do, than what they should not
do. This broad proclamation notwithstanding, each State
was at full liberty to legislate according to its own views,
in reference to the important matter of religion. This is
put clearly by the authors of 'The Catholic Church in the
United States:'—

354 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The original thirteen States, one after another, granted to the
Catholics liberty of conscience, but many of them long refused the
Catholics civil and political rights. Thus it is only since 1806 that
Catholics, to hold office in the State of New York, have been dis-
pensed with a solemn abjuration of all obedience to a foreign eccle-
siastical power. Down to January 1, 183G, to be an elector and
eligible in the State of North Carolina, it was necessary to swear a
belief in the truth of the Protestant religion. In New Jersey, a
clause excluding Catholics from all offices was only abolished in 1844.
And even now (1856), eighty years after the Declaration of the
Treaty of Independence, the State of New Hampshire still excludes
Catholics from every office, stubbornly resisting all the petitions pre-
sented for a removal of this stigma from their statute-book.

As to the States founded on territory ceded by France or Spain,
such as Louisiana, Florida, Michigan, Indiana, or severed from Mexico,
like Texas and California, the Catholics, original proprietors of the soil,
obtained, by the act of cession, the free enjoyment of their worship ;
and there is on the side of Protestantism mere justice, but no generosity,
in keeping the faith of treaties.

In 1790 a remarkable Address was presented to Wash-
ington from the Catholics of America, signed by Bishop
Carroll, the first Catholic Bishop, on the part of the clergy,
and by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, David Carroll, Thomas
Fitzsimmons, and Dominick Lynch,* on the part of the laity.

* Dominick Lynch was born in Galway, Ireland, in 1754, and was a direct
descendant of one of the most influential families of the town ; one of his ancestors
being the inflexible Mayor who, in his capacity as a magistrate, pronounced sen-
tence of death upon his own son. Having acquired a considerable fortune in
Galway, he eventually came to New York, where his arrival was regarded as an
event of public importance, as he brought with him a larger amount in specie
than had been brought to the country in many years by a private individual.
He died in 1825, leaving a large family, several of whom rose to eminent posi-
tions.

Thomas Fitzsimmons was born in Ireland in 1741, and ama>sed a considerable
fortune in Philadelphia, to which place he came about the close of the last inter
colonial war. He was a member of the State Legislature of Pennsylvania for
many years ; also of the Continental Congress in 1782-3 ; of the Constitutional
Convention in 1787 ; of the U. S. House of Eepresentatives from 1789 to 1795.
He was a man of truly noble character, morally, intellectually, and physically.
The firm of George Meade & Co., of which Thomas Fitzsimmons was a member,
contributed the sum of 5,0001. to the relief of the Continental Army in 1780. He
died in 1811, in his 70th year. His wife, Catharine Meade Fitzsimmons, was a
daughter of Robert Meade, an Irish Catholic merchant of Philadelphia, great-
grandfather of Major-General George Gordon Meade, of the Regular Army.

WASHINGTON'S REPLY TO THE CATHOLICS. 355

Two passages, one from the Address, the other from the
reply, may be usefully quoted.

• 'J'h is prospect of national prosperity,' say the Catholics, Ms pecu-
liarly pleasing to us on another account, because, whilst our country
preserves her freedom and independence, we shall have a well-founded
title to claim from her justice equal rights of citizenship, as the price
of our blood spilt under your eyes, and of our common exertions for
her defence under your auspicious conduct ; rights rendered more dear
to us by the remembrance of former hardships.'

In his reply, Washington thus referred to that passage
in the Catholic Address : —

As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow,
that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the
community are equally entitled to the protection of the civil govern-
ment. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations, in
examples of justice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citi-
zens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplish-
ment of their revolution, and the establishment of their government / or,
the important assistance they received from a nation in which the Boman
Catholic religion is professed.

To Baltimore we must naturally look for the first
establishment of the Catholic Church in America. Mem-
bers of various religious Orders, especially the illustrious
Society of Jesus, those heroic soldiers of the Cross, had
shed their blood, or wasted themselves in a life of labour,
in the propagation of the faith. Spain, France, England,
and Ireland too, had all their share in the glory of those
early missions. But, previous to the revolution, the number
of those who proclaimed their adherence to the Church
was not very considerable. Besides, the priests were few,
and many of them worn down by age and hardships. The

These particulars respecting two eminent Irish Catholics are abridged from notes
supplied by Judge Daly and Mr. Michael Hennessy to Mr. John Gilmary Shea,
for his rcpublication of the « Address from the Roman Catholics in 1790.'

It may here be remarked, that the Irish, especially the Catholic Irish, wer^, of the
three nationalities— English, Scotch, and Irish— the most devoted to the interests
of the revolution. It would seem as if they instinctively arrayed themselves in
hostility to the British power ; a fact to be explained alike by their love of liberty,
and their vivid remembrance of recent or past misgoverument.

356 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Catholics of the United States were under the jurisdiction
of the Yicar Apostolic of the London district, and during
the war there was not the least communication between
them and their ecclesiastical superior. Of course, after
the termination of the war, which ended in the indepen-
dence of the American colonies, it was impossible that the
Catholics of the United States could any longer remain
in subjection to an English bishop ; and accordingly the
clergy of Maryland and Pennsylvania addressed the Holy
See, praying that they themselves might be allowed to
choose a spiritual superior, subject to the approbation and
confirmation of His Holiness. Dr. Carroll, then the most
eminent ecclesiastic in the country, was selected to repre-
sent the case of the American Catholics before the Holy
See ; and in praying that the episcopal power should be
placed in the hands of one 'whose virtue, knowledge, and
integrity of faith,' should be certified by the clergy of
America, he was unconsciously describing his own univer-
sally admitted qualification for the high office to which,
in the year 1789, he was raised, to the great satisfaction
of the clergy and laity of the infant Church, and the
approval of the foremost American citizen of that day.*

There was a Cardinal Antonelli in those days, as in
these ; and the Cardinal of that day, when despatching to
Dr. Carroll the official documents appointing him to the
new see, thus expressed his congratulations and his hopes :
' It is a splendid and glorious office to offer to God, as it
were, the first fruits of that portion of the Lord's vineyard.

* The Rev. Dr. White, in his ' Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Catholic
Church in the United States of America,' published as an appendix to Darras'
'General History of the Church,' quotes a passage from a letter of the late Hon.
Mr. Custis, a nephew of the illustrious Washington, representing the esteem in which
the first of the Catholic bishops of the United States was held by its greatest
citizen : —

' From his exalted worth as a minister of God, his stainless character as a man,
' and, above all, his distinguished services as a patriot of the revolution, Dr. Carroll
' stood high, very high, in the esteem and affections of Pater Patriae.'

Bishop Carroll was of Irish descent on his father's side.

THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 357

Enjoy, therefore, so great a blessing, not only for the
salvation of yourself, but for that of others, and for the
increase of the Catholic faith, which we trust will become
more and more widely established in that distant region.' .

In 1785, when Dr. Carroll submitted the case of his co-
religionists to the Propaganda, he estimated the number
of Catholics in the United States at 26,000, and thus
distributed them— 16,000 in Maryland, 7,000 in Pennsyl-
vania, and 2,000 in New York and the other States.
This was too low an estimate, as it did not include French
and other Catholics living to the west of the Ohio and on
the borders of the Mississippi ; but the small number
attributed to New York, now perhaps the most Catholic of
any of the States of the Union, is worthy of notice. It
was not until the city of New York was evacuated by the
British, in. 1783, that the Catholics began to assemble for
the open celebration of public worship. They probably
might have been content to remain for a longer time with-
out a church of their own, had they been able to obtain any
suitable place in which they could decently offer up the
Holy Sacrifice ; but finding it impossible to accommodate
themselves with a building such as they required, they
were compelled to commence what must have been in those
days a formidable undertaking — the erection of a Catholic
church by a small congregation ; and in 1786 the Church
of St. Peter, the first Catholic Church in the State of New
York, was erected — several Irish names being included
among its principal benefactors. That there were Irish
congregations }n the States at that day, and that the New
York congregation bore that distinction, we have evidence
in a letter quoted by Dr. Bayley in his ' Brief Sketch of
the Catholic Church on the Island of New York.' The
letter is from Dr. Carroll, dated December 15, 1785, and
addressed to his friend the Kev. Charles Plowden :—

The congregation at New York, begun by the venerable Mr.
Farmer, of Philadelphia, he has now ceded to an Irish Capuchin

358 THE IRISH IN AMERICA:

resident there. The prospect at that place is pleasing on the whole.
The Capuchin is a zealous, pious, and, I think, humble man. He
is not indeed so learned, or so good a preacher, as I could wish, which
mortifies his congregation ; as at New York, and most other places in
America, the different sectaries have scarce any other test to judge of
a clergyman than, his talent for preaching, and our Irish congregations,
such as New York, follow the same rule.

Father Whelan had. served in a French ship belonging
to the fleet of Admiral De Grasse, who was engaged in
assisting the cause of American Independence ; and at the
close of the war he selected America as the theatre of his
missionary zeal, and became 'the first regularly settled
priest in the city of New York.'

By the aid of another letter from the same pen, quoted
by Dr. White in his 'Sketch,' we have a glimpse at the
state of things at Boston in the year 1790. The descrip-
tion of the feeling of hatred and horror created by ' scan-
dalous misrepresentation' applies, as the reader will have
reason to judge, to a period even more than half a century
later, and to many parts of America. The name of Carroll
was inseparably associated with the successful revolution.
"When Charles Carroll signed his name to the Declaration
of Independence, and added ' of Carrollton,' to his signa-
ture, Benjamin Franklin exclaimed — 'There goes a cool
million!' The new Bishop was therefore certain of being
received with distinction even in the capital of Massa-
chusetts of that day.

It is wonderful (he writes) to tell what great civilities have been
done to me in this town, where, a few years ago, a 'Papist priest' was
thought to be the grossest monster in the creation. Many here, even
of their principal people, have acknowledged to me, that they would have
crossed to the opposite side of the street, rather than meet a Roman
Catholic some time ago. The horror which was associated with the
idea of a Papist is incredible ; and the scandalous misrepresentations
by their ministers increased the horror every Sunday. If all the
Catholics here were united, their numbers would be about one hundred
and twenty.

UNIVERSALITY OF THE CHURCH— EARLY MISSIONS. 359

To the revolutionary fury of France, which directed its
fiercest rage against the Church, that strongest bulwark of
civil government, was America indebted for many eminent
scholars and divines — ecclesiastic, pious, zealous, learned,
who established seminaries, founded coUeges, spread the
faith with characteristic ardour, and filled with distinction
several of the first sees in the United States. Nowhere
is the Catholicity — the Universality of the Church — more
strikingly exhibited than in America. Now it is the
Spaniard, now it is the Frenchman, now the Englishman,
now the Irishman, who preaches the faith or sacrifices his
life in its dangerous mission ; and, as years roll by, it is
the Irish masses, and then, though not to so great an
extent, the Germans, who build up her churches, and give
strength to her congregations.

The number of Catholics having increased so rapidly,
principally through emigration, the Holy See deemed it
advisable to elevate Baltimore into an archbishopric,
and to appoint four suffragan bishops — to Philadelphia,
New York, Boston, and Bardstown ; and of these four
bishops, two — the Right Rev. Michael Egan and the Right
Rev. Luke Concannon — were Irishmen. The new bishops
were consecrated at Baltimore by Archbishop Carroll in
1810, at which period the strength of the Church was
represented by seventy priests, eighty churches, and one
hundred and fifty thousand laity.

From original documents in his possession, Dr. "White
gives, in his Appendix to Darras' ' General History of the
Church,' some characteristic letters from missionary priests
to their Bishop, Dr. Carroll. A passage or two from these
letters will afford an idea of missionary life in those days.
Considering the sharp provocation to its use, the poor priest's
strength of language in the following, written from West
Pennsylvania, is but natural. The writer is an Irishman : —

Your reverence (he writes) can have no conception of my dis-
tress here, even for the necessaries of life, for really I have not any-

360 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

thing like a sufficiency of food such as I get, and, indeed, poor
and filthy it is. Most of the Irish, who, though poor, were by far
ihe most generous, have now quit this settlement ; five or six German
families alone remain, whose chaplain I may call myself, since I can-
not pretend to travel for want of a horse, and those people, indeed, —
abstraction made of religion — are the last of all mankind for senti-
ments of humanity. The .poor man I live with is not paid what was
promised for my board, and, whether he intends it or not, lie treats
me accordingly. Perhaps he can't help it. Bread is the sole support
of his family. Morning, noon, and night, flour and water, or bread
and water, with a little burnt grease thrown over it, is the sup-
port of his starved and almost perfectly naked family. Since my
arrival, the only meat they had was a little pig about twenty or thirty
pounds, and a calf ten days old, of which we eat this whole week,
till it became musty and green for want of salt. . . , Thus have I spent
five months of a very rigorous Lent, that threw me into a diarrhoea,
that, in such wretchedness and cold, made me pass a most penitential
winter.

Another priest writes from Milltown, Pa., in January
1799. After informing his Bishop that he had a large
tract of land about twenty miles from there, and that he
had placed his sister, a nun, on it, allotting her and her
Order five hundred acres, he requests him to send him,
in the spring —

Twenty Munster or Connaught men, and if they are poor, I'll pay
them as much a year or a day as any other gentleman in the country,
provided they are Catholics, because there are plenty of other descrip-
tions here already ; but I don't approve of it. Thus you'll free me from
a reprobated class of infamous Scotch-Irish, superior in all kinds of wick-
edness, only in a superlative degree, to the most vile convicts. . . .
This before I would not mention to you, until I could be settled, in
dread you might suppose interested views might oblige me to exag-
gerate in my reports. .... In consequence of the cold, I am
dislodged from my spring house, and obliged to turn into the pig-sty

that is. the poor honest man's own house, where cats, young dogs,

and young fowls, both men and their wives, sons and daughters, all
in one store-room comfortably kennel together. But what is more
humourous is, that I am kept in pledge, in this sweet-scented situation,
for my quarter's, diet and lodging.

There is something comical in the bitter wail of dis-

TWO GREAT ORDERS. 361

tress emanating from poor Father Whelan, who for many
years a missionary in Kentucky, now, January 1805, ad-
dresses his Bishop from Clay Creek, Pennsylvania : —

As to Thomas Maguire and his wife, a priest might as well go and
lodge in a wolf-pen as with them — he being a wild Irish savage, she
being either of the Sambo or Shawnee breed, though some say she is
a Hottentot. But, let the case be as it may, she is one whose exte-
rior appearance and interior disposition differ totally from any woman
I ever conversed with. At the second word, she will give me the lie
to my face. Her husband, though present, would say nothing to all

this No man in Bedlam suffers more than I do, in the

company of four wolves. I hope it is a temporal purgatory, and will
atone for some of my sins.

Among the many great works associated with the episco-
pacy of Dr. Carroll, two may be noticed — the foundation of
the Jesuit College of Georgetown, and the establishment,
under Mrs. Seton, of the Sisters of Charity at Einmetts-
burg.

From the date of the foundation of the College of
Georgetown to the present hour, this parent house of
Catholic learning has steadily pursued a noble career of
usefulness and honour, educating thousands of the best
youth of the country, preparing many of them for the
most eminent position in every walk of life, and every
department of the public service. And at no period of its
splendid career has this first of Catholic American institu-
tions held a higher place in public esteem than it does at
this moment. I had the pleasure of walking through its
halls, and visiting its rich and varied library, in which
there are works of the rarest kind, inestimable in the eyes
of a collector. 'The president is an Irishman, as distin-
guished for his learning and piety, as for his gifts as a
preacher.

To two holy women — one a native of America, the other

a native of Ireland — is America indebted for a gift beyond

1G

362 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

raeasure priceless, and indeed of which no human estimate
can be formed — the foundation and introduction of two
Religious Orders, which, commencing under circumstances
of the greatest difficulty and discouragement, have since
spread over the face of the continent, having their branches
in every State of the Union, and being in all places where
they are established the noblest exemplars of the Catholic
religion, because the truest representatives of the Christian
virtues. What Mrs. Seton did for the Order of Charity
in America, Mrs. M'Auley accomplished for the Order of
Mercy in Ireland ; and not only was the Order of Mercy
introduced from Ireland into the fruitful soil of America,
but Ireland — that exhaustless fountain of the faith, whose
well-spring is ever full of living waters — contributed to
both orders very many of their most zealous and devoted
members.*

In founding the Order of the Daughters of Charity in
the United States, Mrs. Seton not only rendered a lasting
service to religion and humanity, but afforded the honest
doubter, as well as the scoffer and the hater of Catholicity,
the most convincing proof of what it teaches, what it
practises, and what it really is. Born in New York, in
the year 1774, of Protestant parents, her father, Dr.
Bayley, being an eminent physician of that city, Mrs.
Seton was ever remarkable for singular sweetness of dis-
position, tenderness and compassion for every form of
human distress, and a fervent piety, which found the most

* Though somewhat anticipating, it may be here mentioned that, of the Order
of Mercy in the United States, now numbering about 1,300 sisters, the large
majority of these are Irish-born, while the greater number of the remainder,
though born in America, are of Irish parentage. The minority consists of Ameri-
can, French, Spanish, German, and other nationalities. To the convent in Carlow
is America indebted for the first colony of these holy women, who were introduced
in 1343 by Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburgh ; and to the zeal and energy of Mother
M. F. Xavier Warde, the first superioress of the Order in the United States, and
now superioress of the house in Manchester, New Hampshire, are mainly due the
•wonderful and rapid spread of this noble institution in the New World. In fact,
this gifted lady established the principal houses throughout the Union.

MRS. SETON. 363

eloquent expression in her conversation and in her writings.
To those who desire to witness, as it were, the struggles of
a Christian soul, distracted by doubts springing from the
purest conscientiousness, and yet impelled to the light by
an invisible influence, we cordially commend the admirable
' Life of Mrs. Seton.' * by the Rev. Dr. -White ; a work
that will well repay perusal, whether by the Catholic or
the fair-minded Protestant.

It may be remarked, that this holy woman, this model
wife and daughter, was deeply impressed with the religious
demeanour of the poor Irish emigrants of that day — the
opening of the present century — who were detained in
quarantine at Staten Island, and attended by her father,
as Health Physician to the Port of New York. ' The first
thing,' she says, 'these poor people did, when they got their
tents, was to assemble on the grass, and all, kneeling,
adored our Maker for His mercy ; and every morning sun
finds them repeating their praises.' The scenes then
witnessed at Staten Island remind one of those which were
so fatally frequent in subsequent years. Even at that
time — 1800, and the years following — large numbers of
emigrants arrived at the port of New York, suffering from
the dreadful scourge of fever, so calamitous to the Irish
race. A striking picture of the sufferings of its victims is

* 'Life of Mrs. Eliza A. Seton, Foundress and First Superior of the Sisters or
Daughters of Charity in the United States of America,' By Charles T. White,
D.D. Published by John Murphy & Co., Baltimore. This work reached a sixth
edition in 1867.

A companion to the 'Life of Mrs. Seton' is the 'Life of Catharine M'Auley,
Foundress and First Superior of the Institute of Religious Sisters of Mercy ; by
a Member of the Order of Mercy. Published by D. & J. Sadlier & Co., New York.
This is a charming book, written with a grace, and at times a vivacity and fresh-
ness of style, most de'ightful. One is led to believe that a woman alone— and
that woman a good and holy one, whose heart was in the great work of the
foundress of her Order — could have done justice to the beautiful character of that
illustiious convert, whose daughters, mimbering about 4,000, are now widely
scattered over the world, diffusing everywhere the blessings of a religious, indus-
trial, and moral training to the young, and performing those works of mercy by
which they exemplify the holiness of their mission. It will be read with pleasure
and with profit.

364 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

given in a letter, addressed by Mrs. Seton to her sister-
in-law : —

Rebecca, I cannot sleep ; the dying and the dead possess my mind
— babies expiring at the empty breast of the expiring mother. And
this is not fancy, but the scene that surrounds me. Father says that
such was never known before 5 that there are actually twelve children
that must die from mere want of sustenance, unable to take more
than the breast, and, from the wretchedness of their parents, deprived
of it, as they have lain ill for many days in the ship, without food,
air, or changing. Merciful Father! Oh, how readily would I give
them each a turn of my child's treasure, if in my choice ! But, Rebecca,
they have a provider in Heaven, who will soothe the pangs of the
suffering innocent.

She would willingly have become a mother to those
helpless little ones, but her father would not permit her
to obey the womanly impulse, as her first duty regarded
her own child. In 1801 her father fell a victim to his
attendance on the Irish emigrants. He had directed the
passengers and crew of an Irish emigrant ship, with fever
on board, to go on shore to the rooms and tents provided
for them, leaving their baggage behind ; but on going into
the hospital the following morning, he found that his
orders, given the evening before, had been disobeyed, and
that crew and passengers, men, women, and children, well,
sick, and dying, with all their baggage, were huddled to-
gether in the same room in which they had passed the night.
Into this apartment, before it had been ventilated, he
imprudently entered, and remained but a moment, being
compelled to retire by deadly sickness of the stomach and
intense pain in the head, which seized him immediately
on entering within its precincts.* From the bed to which
he at once retired he never rose again. This was Mrs.
Seton's first great grief ; but many times, in her after life,
was her tender heart wrung by the loss of those whom
she loved with all the passionate strength of her nature.

* T hacker's American Medical Biography.

MRS. SETON FOUiNDS HER ORDER. 365

The circumstance of a visit to Italy, whither she went
in company with her dying husband, who, as a last
resource, sought the mild climate of the South of Europe
as his only chance of recovery, not only confirmed her in
her previous intention, or desire, to become a Catholic,
but acquired for her the enduring friendship of a high-
minded and generous family of Leghorn, by name Fellici,
to whose munificent assistance in her future work she was
under the deepest obligations. At length, and after an
exhausting mental conflict, rendered more distressing by
the importunities and the anger of her relatives and friends,
Mrs. Seton took the final step, and in the church of St.
Peter, New York, in March, 1805, she joined that Church
to which it has been her happiness to render the greatest
and most exalted services. By this last act of what her
friends regarded as spiritual treason of the most flagrant
kind, Mrs. Seton cut herself off for ever from all com-
munion with them ; and some time after she established
in Baltimore, under the auspices of Bishop Carroll, and with
the co-operation of those who knew her story and respected
her character, a school for young ladies, in which she soon
had the requisite number, including her own daughters,
to whom she was the fondest but the wisest of mothers.
But she was impelled to a fuller development of her own
desire, which was to dedicate herself to the service of the
poor ; and how this desire was fulfilled is thus told by her
biographer : —

About this time another circumstance took place which still more
plainly indicated the will of God in reference to the good work. Mr.
Cooper, who was then a student in St. Mary's Seminary, at Balti-
more, intending, if such were the divine will, to prepare himself for
the sacred ministry, possessed some property ; and he was desirous of
literally following the maxim of the Gospel : — ' Go, sell what thou
i nd give it to the poor, and come, follow me.' One morning,
immediately after receiving the holy communion. Mrs. Seton felt
a strong inclination arise within her to dedicate herself to the care
and instruction of poor female children, and to organise some plan

366 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

for this purpose that might be continued after her death. She com-
municated this to the Rev. Mr. Dubourg. 'This morning,' she said,
'in my dear communion I thought, Dearest Saviour, if you would
give me the care of poor little children, no matter how poor;
and Mr. Cooper being directly before me at his thanksgiving,
I thought — he has money; if he would but give it for the
bringing up of poor little children, to know and love you ! ' Mr.
Dubourg, joining his hands, observed that it was very strange; for
Mrs. Seton had not mentioned the subject to any one else. ' Mr.
Cooper/ said he, 'spoke to me this very morning of his thoughts
beiug all for poor children's instruction, and if he had somebody
to do it he would give his money for that purpose ; and he won-
dered if Mrs. Seton would be willing to undertake it.' The good
priest was struck at the coincidence of their views, and he requested
them each to reflect upon the subject for the space of a month, and
then to acquaint him with the result. During this time there was
no interchange of opinion between Mrs. Seton and Mr. Cooper in
relation to their wishes ; and at the expiration of it they both re-
turned separately to Mr. Dubourg, renewing the sentiments they had
expressed before, one offering a portion of his temporal means,* and
the other her devoted services for the relief of the poor and suffering
members of Christ. The providence of God in behalf of the Ameri-
can Church was so clearly indicated in the circumstances just related
that little room was left for deliberation. Bishop Carroll having
been informed of the design, gave his warmest approbation to it, in
conjunction with the Rev. Francis Nagot, the saintly superior of St.
Mary's Seminary ; and the only question that now presented itself
for consideration was in reference to the locality of the intended
establishment.

The two ladies who first joined Mrs. Seton, were Miss
Cecilia O'Conway and Miss Maria Murphy ; and among
those who formed the little community of Emmettsburg —
the locality selected for the parent house of the Order in
America, we find such names as Maria Burke and Cathe-
rine Mullen ; proving that, in this infant institution, the
Irish element was not wanting. In a miserable little
house of one storey and a garret, sixteen persons, including
the female children of Mrs. Seton, were crowded ; and
here the holy women, who were destined to prove the
most eminent benefactors to religion and humanity, suf-
fered hardships and privations which they yet bore with

* Eight thousand dollars.

EARLY DIFFICULTIES AND PRIVATIONS. 367

cheerfulness. At times, indeed, they were reduced to a
condition of absolute destitution. To supply the place of
coifee, they manufactured a beverage from carrots, which
they sweetened with molasses : and their rye bread was of
the coarsest description. For months they were reduced
to such absolute want that they did not know where the
next day's meal was to come from. On Christmas-day
they considered themselves fortunate in having some
smoked herrings for dinner, and a spoonful of molasses
for each.* By her anti-Catholic friends Mrs. Seton was
denounced as ' the pest of society/ a/id ' a hypocrite and a
bigot,' they visiting on her the early death of two loved
members of her own family who, braving the trials of her
exalted mission, died in the early bloom of youthful
womanhood. As, with some modifications to suit the
constitution of different religious communities, the objects
contemplated by the Daughters of Charity are those com-
mon to several orders in America, it may be well to state
their objects, as given by Mrs. Seton's biographer : —

The end which the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph proposed to
themselves was, to honour our Lord Jesus Christ as the source and
model of all charity, by rendering to Him every temporal and spiritual
service in their power, in the persons of the poor, the sick, prisoners,
and others ; also to honour the Sacred infancy of Jesus Christ, in the
young persons of their sex whom they may be called upon to form to
virtue, while they sow in their minds the seeds of useful knowledge.
Thus the poor, of all descriptions and ages, the sick, invalids, found-
lings, orphans, and even insane persons, were embraced within the
sphere of their solicitude and care. Another object of their zeal, no
less important at that time in America, was the instruction of young
persons of their sex in virtue, piety, and various branches of useful
learning.

And these, and such as these, were then, and have been
even to this day, described as Mrs. Seton was described by
her anti-Catholic friends — 'pests of society,' 'hypocrites
and bigots ! '

Philadelphia was the first place to which a branch of

* Life of Mrs. Seton.

368 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the order was extended; and the care of the orphans
whose parents had perished of yellow fever offered a fitting
opportunity for • the exercise of their charity. Their's,
however, was a hard trial for a considerable time, not-
withstanding the sympathy shown to them, and the assist-
ance they received. The Sisters had nothing beyond the
coarsest fare, and not always sufficient of that. For three
months they had no bread whatever, subsisting wholly 011
potatoes, which formed their principal article of diet for
their first year. Their 'coffee' was made of corn, and
their fuel was gathered from the tanyards. 'One day, the
Sisters being to much occupied at home, an orphan was
despatched to the market with twelve and a half cents,
all the money in the house, to buy a shin of beef. A few
hours after, the child returned to the asylum with a large
piece of meat, telling the Sisters that an old market-
woman, finding that she was one of the orphans, had
given her the money and meat, and authorised her to call
upon her for assistance whenever they were in want.
This old woman became a generous friend of the in-
stitution. By the benevolence of herself and others it
gradually acquired ample resources, and was enabled to
maintain under its charitable roof an increasing number
of orphans.'

The holy foundress of the order went to her eternal
reward on the 4th January, 1821, in the 47th year of her
age, her death being as edifying as her life.

From the very first formation of the Order of Charity
in the United States, there were to be found in the infant
institution ladies of Irish birth and Irish parentage ; and
as it gathered strength, and its branches spread from State
to State, the Irish element was ever strong in its commur
nities. How attractive the great work of this order has
proved to Irish piety may be learned from a passage in a
letter from a Sister of St. Joseph's Academy, Emmettsburg,
dated June 3, 1867, and addressed to a reverend friend of

IRISH SISTERS. 3G9

mine : ' The number of Irish sisters now living, and in
'our community, amounts to four hundred and ten. This
/speaks well of the piety of the Emerald Isle.'

The prosperous branch of the order in the State of New
York, though founded from the mother house at Emmetts-
burg, and based on the same principles and constitution,
and doing the same work, is altogether independent.
It numbers several hundred sisters, the majority of whom
are Irish. The order, wherever it is established, embraces
within its ranks a considerable number of Sisters of Irish
descent as well as of Irish birth.

370 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XX.

Bishop Connolly's Note-Book—Laity's Directory for 1822 — Dr.
Kirwan previous to his Apostacy — The Church in 1822 — Pro-
gress in 1834— How the Faith was Lost.

AN extract or two, taken from a note-book, unhappily
only a fragment, kept by Dr. Connolly, Bishop of New
York, and quoted by Bishop Bayley in his ' Brief Sketch.,'
will tell us something of the Irish of his day, as also of
the condition of his diocese, which comprised the whole of
the State of New York and part of New Jersey.

March IQth, 1816. — Wrote to Dr. Troy an account of my voyage
to America; illness here for nearly two months. Catholics dispersed
through the country parts of the States of Pennsylvania, New York,
New Jersey, and Nevv England, where they seldom see a priest: they are
not able to maintain one in any particular district— ambulatory zea-
lous priests, necessary for them to prevent their children from con-
forming to the persuasions of neighbouring sectaries, who all of them
have their respective ministers. Only Jour priests in this diocese,
though the Catholics of New York and its district are about seventeen
thousand.

Feb. 25th, 1818 At present there are here about six-
teen thousand Catholics, mostly Irish; at least ten thousand Irish
Catholics arrived at New York only within these last three years. They
spread through all the other States of this Confederacy, and make
their religion known everywhere. Bishops ought to be granted to
whatever State here is willing to build a Cathedral, as Norfolk has
done. The present Dioceses are quite too extensive. Our cathedral
owes 53,000 dollars, borrowed to build it, for which it pays interest at
the rate of 7 per cent, yearly. This burthen hinders us from sup-
porting a sufficient number of priests, or from thinking to erect a
seminary. The American youth have an almost invincible repugnance
to the ecclesiastical state.

LAITY'S DIRECTORY FOR 1822. 371

The names of the priests ordained by Dr. Connolly —
O 'Gorman, Bulger, Kelly, Brennan, Shanahan, and Conroy
— are sufficient evidence of the country from which the
infant Church of the United States obtained the greater
number of its pastors. Dr. Bayley mentions one of the
many amusing incidents in the missionary life of Father
Bulger, whose ardent zeal and buoyant spirits enabled
him to bear up against many hardships, and not a few
insults ; for the horror of 'Priests and Popery,' as Bishop
Carroll said of Boston, was ' incredible.' Trudging along-
one day on foot, carrying a bundle, containing his vest-
ments and breviary, under his arm, Father Bulger was over-
taken by a farmer and his wife in a waggon. The farmer
invited Mr. Bulger to ride ; but it having come out in the
course of conversation that he was a priest, the wife de-
clared that she would not remain with him in the waggon,
and he was obliged to get out and resume his journey on
foot. But the strange part of the story is, that the farmer
afterwards applied to Father Bulger for instructions, and
became a Catholic.

The most authentic and accurate information as to the
condition of the American Church towards the latter part
of the first quarter of the present century, is afforded by
the 'Laity's Directory' for 1822.* This little compilation
deserves notice, not only because of the contrast it offers
to the great volume of the present day, but that it enables
us to behold how feeble and comparatively insignificant was
the Catholic body of the first quarter of this century as com-
pared with its present magnitude and power. At the time
it was published, not many pages were required for the or-
dinary purposes of a directory and calendar ; and on ana-
lysing the 138 pages of which the little volume is composed,
I find there are not more than 50 devoted to such purpose ;
and of these 50 pages 10 are occupied with obituaries of

* To the kindness of Mr. John Gilmary Shea I am indebted for the use of copies
of a Laity's Directory for 1822 and 1833— the former published at Kew York, the
latter at Baltimore.

372 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

deceased prelates and priests, and 11 more are devoted to a
single institution, and an account of the Society of Jesus
in the United States. In fact, less than a dozen pages of
Sadlier's voluminous directory of the present year would
amply suffice for an epitome of the ecclesiastical intelli-
gence of 1822. But, according to the advertisement, it
was intended ' to accompany the Missal, with a view to
facilitate the use of the same.' Eevised and corrected by
an eminent Irish Priest — the Eev. John Power of New
York— it testifies in every line of its historical and de-
scriptive matter to his piety and eloquence.

Among other offerings to ,the laity, it contains ' A New
Year's Gift for the Year 1822 ; ' and though a somewhat
strange New Year's gift, it must have been welcome and
valuable at the time. It is a ' Discourse on Keligious In-
novations,' delivered by the Eev. Walter Blake Kirwan, at
the Neapolitan Ambassador's Chapel, in London, on the
20th March, 1786. Having, a short time after the delivery
of this remarkable discourse, abandoned the church which
in that discourse he so vigorously and, one might say,
fiercely defended, his apostacy was a source of great scan-
dal to the faithful, and of corresponding triumph to their
opponents. From the published sermons of Mr. Kirwan
this discourse was omitted, ' doubtless,' says the Editor of
the Directory, ' because his family had no reason to be so-
licitous to promote its publicity ; his fall must to them have
been a subject of grief and humiliation : and they felt
poignantly that it could not exalt his memory, since the
talents and impressive truths it displays are not more con-
spicuous than that deplorable frailty which so soon after-
wards induced himself to become a striking example of
what he had therein so wisely and eloquently deprecated.'

The publication of this remarkable discourse was no
doubt intended to answer the revilers of that day, and per-
haps strengthen faith which was then exposed to many
perils. Eeading it, one can scarcely avoid arriving at one

DR. KIR WAN PREVIOUS TO HIS APOSTACY. 373

or other of two conclusions, — either that he was a hypocrite
of the most daring description, or that he was seized with
some sudden religious vertigo, in which he saw everything
through a distorted medium. Thus, for instance, he says,
' Yet in what terms of sufficient indignation shall I speak
of that profaneness which has branded her (the Church's)
ceremonies and discipline with the foul and opprobrious
epithets of pageantry and abuse ? I believe, nay, I am con-
fident, when I assert that such ill-founded and scandal-
ous reflections are received, even by those who dissent from
us — by the thinking and informed part of the Church of
England — with the utmost contempt for the person that
utters them, with a perfect detestation of his perfidy.

Referring to a point of general discipline in the Catholic
Church which was then, and has been often since, the sub-
ject of comment and attack, that of ' performing the public
service in Latin,' he shows how it establishes uniformity,
and prevents confusion ; ' because natural languages are
subject to decay and corruption, and in the space of a cen-
tury may have undergone a total change as to the meaning
and acceptation of words and phrases ; the consequence
must ^e that error and obscurity might insensibly steal
into the Liturgy. Because,' he adds, 'in the same king-
dom, for instance in this island, which is but a speck upon
the expanse of Europe, public service would be read in
three different tongues, English, Welsh, and Erse. Hence
what confusion would arise, even in the Liturgy of this na-
tion, insomuch that were one of you to be present at the
mass in Wales, or in some part of Scotland, not to speak
of Ireland, you might as well hear it in the language of
Hindostan.' He thus sums up this part of his discourse :

' In whatever point of view I consider this matter, I am
persuaded that to alter the present practice would be an
unwise and dangerous reform. That such a measure might
have been demanded in too insolent a manner, may perhaps
be true ; but that it had not been acceded to, because we

374 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

are irritated by petulant reflections, or not disposed to pray
in the language of a Luther, a Calvin, or an Elizabeth, is
not the case ; but because the Church judges it expedient
to preserve uniformity in her service, and secure it from
change, corruption, and confusion/

With these passages — defending the use of ceremonies —
we may turn from the New Years' Gift offered in the
Laity's Directory of 1822 :

If there is any faith to be given to the attestations of the primitive
writers of Christianity, and usages of the Church, from the earliest
ages, most of the ceremonies practised in our public service and ad-
ministration of sacraments are immediately derived from the Apostles.
The Church has judged it expedient to institute additional ones; her
power is from Christ.

The use of ceremony is to maintain order, decency, and uniformity
in the exterior acts of religion ; to raise and elevate the mind to a
proper contemplation of our mysteries, and to inspire respect and awe
for the supreme majesty of God. How much they conduce to this
great object, every one's experience bears ample testimony. The
strongest impressions are produced on the mind through the medium
of the senses. The animal part of man fetters and clogs the powers
of the soul, checks its activity, and blunts the edge of its conception.
The sacred pomp of religion was designed, therefore, as an auxiliary
to assist the efforts of the mind, and give a spring to its operations.

In 1822 the number of churches throughout the whole
of the United States did not much exceed one hundred ;
and in some of the States not only was there no church,
but a priest was never seen by their scattered population ;
so that if they kept the faith, they did so by a miracle of
grace.

The diocese of Baltimore had then more than one-third
of all the churches — meaning thereby all the missions — in
the States. Baltimore boasted at that time of thirty-nine
churches, and several institutions, educational and charitable.

Catholicity had a hard struggle to make any way in the
New England States, the historic stronghold of the Puritans.
It was nevertheless making progress, but slowly ; nor was
it until wave after wave of emigration from Ireland was

THE CHURCH IN 1822. 375

directed to its shores, that these States began to feel the
influence of the Catholic element. The diocese of Boston
comprehended at that time — 1822 — the entire of the New
England States, including Maine ; and in all these States
there were but six churches, two of which were in the city
of Boston. There was one at Salem, one at New Bedford,
and two in the State of Maine, thus leaving districts of
enormous extent without church or priest. To two noble
French clergymen — Bishop Cheverus and his Vicar-General,
Dr. Matignon — was due the exalted merit of having ren-
dered Catholicity respected in Boston. They were learned,
pious, zealous, indefatigable, and of the most amiable dis-
position and conciliatory manners. They failed not, we
are told by the Editor of the Laity's Directory, in a short
time to win the hearts and gain the affections of their dis-
senting brethren. ' Prejudices soon began to disappear,
inquiries after truth to be made, numbers successively to
join their little society ; and at this present time the
church of Boston forms a very prominent feature in the
Catholic body of the United States. O, truly fortunate
revolution in France ! every true Catholic in this country
may exclaim, which has brought so many edifying and en-
lightened instructors ! '

In 1822 the diocese of New York, which comprehended
the whole of the State of New York, together with the
northern part of Jersey, possessed but seven churches ; and
including the. Bishop, Dr. Connolly, who discharged the
ordinary duties of the humblest missionary, the number
of priests did not exceed nine. Two of the churches were
in New York ; the others being in Albany, Utica, Auburn,
New Jersey, and Carthage. The clergyman officiating at
Albany occasionally visited Troy, Lansingburgh, Johns-
town, and Schenectady. Under the head of the ' Clergy-
men officiating in the diocese/ we find the following items,
alike indicative of the laborious duties of the clergy and the
spiritual destitution of the scattered flocks : —

376 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

*REV. PATRICK KELLY, Auburn, Rochester, and other dis-
tricts in the Western part of this State.

' REV. PHILIP LARISSY attends regularly at Staten Is-
land, and different other congregations along the Hudson
fiiver.'

Philadelphia, which included Pennsylvania and Dela-
ware, was a comparatively flourishing diocese, with fifteen
churches. 'It is pleasing to reflect,' says the Editor of
the Laity's Directory, 'that at the present day the pro-
fessors of Catholicity make up nearly one-fifth of the
population of the city.' Even then the Irish were strong
in Philadelphia.

The Bishopric of Bardstown was then of ' prodigious ex-
tent,' comprehending the States of Kentucky, Tennessee,
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with the Michigan and North
Western Territories. A few years back all these countries
were little better than a wilderness, and with scarcely a
Catholic to be seen in them ; and though we are told, in
the Directory, that they formed, in 1822, ' one of the most
populous flourishing portions of Catholic America,' we
must only say the Catholics were left very much to them-
selves ; for in the entire of this diocese — we shall not
state how many times larger than the United Kingdom —
there were but nineteen churches, the majority of them
of wood. We are not, therefore, surprised to read a
passage like this — 'There are yet parts of this country
in which many Catholics have settled (chiefly on the bor-
ders of the great lakes) who have not yet seen the face of a
Catholic clergyman.'

The diocese of Louisiana, which included the whole of
ancient Louisiana and the Floridas, was then one of the
most flourishing of the domains of the Church. It had
a considerable staff of priests when compared with the
other dioceses, though there were many portions of this
extensive region in which the voice of the minister of
religion was never heard.

PROGRESS IN 1834. 377

In the diocese of Richmond, which embraced the whole
of Virginia, there were but seven churches ; and in the
famous Bishopric of Charleston, to which Dr. England
lent such undying lustre, Catholicity had made but little
progress at that time.

The diocese of Charleston included North Carolina, South
Carolina, and Georgia. In 1822, or two years after the
appointment of Dr. England to the see, there was but one
church in the City of Charleston ; there was no church in
North Carolina, and no church in South Carolina, though
churches ' were intended to be ; ' while in Georgia there
were . three churches, one in Savannah, one in Augusta,
and one at Locust Grove. In this vast diocese there was
ample field for the energies of the most zealous missionary :
and we shall hereafter see how vigorously the most illus-
trious bishop of his day girded his loins to his great work.
There were as yet, we are informed, no Catholic schools
in any part of the diocese, but active exertions were then
being made by Dr. England to diffuse a correct knowledge
of the principles of the Catholic Church, through the
establishment of societies which had for their object the
dissemination of books of piety and instruction.
» We now, with the aid of ' The Metropolitan Catholic
Calendar and Laity's Directory for 1834,' pass over a
period of twelve years. This little volume, not greater in
size than that published at New York in 1822, was
printed in Baltimore ; and we are not surprised to read in
it the following description of the position of the Church
in this favoured diocese.

1 Baltimore has, not improperly, been styled the Rome
of the United States ; and, indeed, whether we consider
the monuments of religion, rare and magnificent of their
kind, or the splendour of the ceremonies of the church, or
the number, respectability, and piety of those who profess
the Catholic faith, there is no one who could question the
justice of her claim, or attempt to deprive her of the glory
of her title.'

378 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

We find four new dioceses in the year 1834, namely,
that of Cincinnati, established in 1823, St. Louis in 1827,
Mobile in 1825, and Michigan in 1823. Of the old
dioceses, we discover more apparent progress in that
of Boston, in which twenty-six churches are well dis-
tributed through its different States. Thus, while there
are nine in Massachusetts, there are three in Rhode
Island, two in Connecticut, two in New Hampshire, two
in Vermont, and six in Maine. This improved condition
of things denotes that the Irish Catholics were even then
making their way in the home of the New England
Puritan. New York, with a wonderful future before it, has
still but nineteen churches throughout its vast diocese ;
while Charleston, under the vigorous administration of
Bishop England, has already twelve, but with only twelve
priests for its three States.

The Religious Orders are making themselves known
in several of the dioceses, where their value is already
thoroughly appreciated. The Sisters of Charity have
established twenty-five branches in seven dioceses, these
taking the charge and management of academies, free
schools, asylums, infirmaries, and hospitals.

In 1829, when the first Provincial Council of Baltimore
was held, which was attended by the Archbishop of Bal-
timore and five bishops, four being absent, the assembled
Prelates expressed their gratitude to God for the increase
of the Church, whose position is accurately stated in the
following enumeration : — 11 dioceses, 10 bishops, 232
priests, 230 churches, 9 ecclesiastical seminaries, 8 colleges,
20 female academies, and a Catholic population of at least
half a million. In four of the dioceses, Baltimore, Rich-
mond, New Orleans, and St. Louis, the number of priests
was 132, thus leaving but 100 for New York, Boston, Phila-
delphia, Bardstown, Charleston, Cincinnati, and Mobile.
The progress, such as it was, was considerable, taking into
account the difficulties with which the infant Church had

HOW THE FAITH WAS LOST. 379

to contend, especially the want of churches and pastors
for fast-growing congregations, and the various hostile
influences arrayed everywhere against the faith. In the
Directory of 1834, we frequently read such announce-
ments as these — 'mass occasionally' — 'mass every two
months ' — ' mass once a month ' — ' mass twice a month.'
The * occasionally ' was in those times, and for years after-
wards, a word of large significance, and might mean once
a year, or once in three years, as was in many instances
the case. If a certain proportion of the Irish emigrants
did lose their faith, the explanation is obvious. It may,
however, be given from an authority that cannot be ques-
tioned; namely, the Pastoral Letter of the Archbishop
and Bishops of the Second Council of Baltimore, dated
the 2nd of October, 1833 ; from which the following pas-
sage is taken : —

»

In viewing the members of our flocks who are spread abroad over
the surface of this country, and the comparatively small number of
our clergy, we have often been forced to deplore the destitution of
spiritual aid under which multitudes labour. God is our witness,
that so far as we had the means we have endeavoured to supply the
wants of our beloved children. We have not been sparing of our-
selves, nor have our brethren in the priesthood been spared. Of this,
you, brethren, are also our witnesses. But notwithstanding these
efforts, the Catholic has been too frequently removed far from the
voice of his pastor, far from the altar of his redeeming Victim, far
from the bread of angels, far from the other sacraments and institu-
tions of religion. The emigrant who comes to our shores for the
purpose of turning his industry to more profitable account than he
could do in regions long and thickly inhabited, has wandered through
our forests, 'our fields, our towns, and some of our cities, in amaze-
ment at not being able to find a church in which he could worship
according to the rites of his ancestors ; he has left our republic in
the bitterness of disappointment, or he has not infrequently become
indifferent. Others have with a firm faith preserved the sacred de-
posit, and transmitted it to their children, looking forward with hope
to that day when they would be cheered by the ancient sounds of a
liturgy derived from the Apostolic ages, and known through all the
nations of the eart!).

380 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

From the condition of things in a single diocese, in
which, for more than twenty years, the bishop had to do
far more than the hardest work of a missionary priest, the
reader may form a notion of the state of Catholicity in
many parts of the United States, not alone from the year
1820 to the year 1834, when the Second Council of Balti-
more was held, but down to a very recent period indeed
— wherever, in fact, the circumstances were at all similar.
I have been favoured with a diary kept by Dr. England,
Bishop of Charleston, during the first three years of his
episcopate ; * and some extracts from its pages will afford
the reader a lively idea, as well of the multiplied work
which a Catholic bishop in those days had to go through,
as of certain peculiarities in the religious world of America,
for which there is no match to be found in these countries,
where the hard line of separation is rigidly defined. Before
the Bishop speaks for himself, it may be well to show what
manner of man he was, and how far he was fitted for the
position to which Providence had called him.

* This cherished memorial of her illustrious brother was entrusted to me by his
venerable sister, one of the oldest members of the North Presentation Community
of Cork. For half a century known by the honoured title of 'Mother Catherine,'
Mrs. England has been eminent for much of that vigour of intellect and energy
of character for which the Bishop of Charleston was remarkable ; and in zeal for
the glory of God — for religion and Christian education — it were difficult to decide
to which, the brother or the sister, the priest or the nun, the palm should be
awarded.

CHAPTER XXI.

Dr. England, Bishop of Charleston — Bishop England's Diary —
Bishop England's Missionary Labours— The Bishop's Trials —
Bishop England's growing Fame.

TJ1NDOWED with singular energy of character, and a
|]j mind at once vigorous and comprehensive, enriched
with information both varied and accurate, John England
combined the advantages of a thorough training in all the
priestly duties, derived from an active missionary career,
first in his native city, and afterwards in the parish of
Bandon. To the discharge of his functions as a minister
of the Gospel he brought the zeal and piety of an ardent
nature, and the promptings of a spirit entirely unselfish,
and indeed wholly self-sacrificing. Nor was he unaquaint-
ed with those political questions which agitated the public
mind of that day. In Ireland, whatever the disposition of
priest or prelate, there happen occasions when he is tempt-
ed—nay even compelled — to quit the sacred precincts of
the sanctuary for the arena of political strife ; and before
John England was appointed to the parish of Bandon,
even the ecclesiastics who, by character and disposition,
were most inclined to shrink from the angry contentions
of the outer world, felt themselves compelled by a sense of
conscientious obligation to assert their rights as citizens.
This was during the long and wearisome struggle for
Emancipation, which was mainly carried, as the world
knows, by the pluck and determination of the Catholics of
Ireland, assisted, no doubt, by the generous and persistent

382 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

aid of the Liberal Protestants of the United Kingdom.
The grand object of the Irish Catholics of that day was
to return, as their representatives to Parliament, the
friends of Emancipation ; and such was the power and in-
fluence of those who made a desperate resistance to the
just claims of their fellow-countrymen, that it required the
utmost effort and the most perfect union on the part of the
CathoKc body to frustrate the machinations of their wily
and relentless opponents. The Kev. John England was a
ready, dashing writer, as bold in attack as skilful in reply ;
nor as a speaker was he inferior, either in power or bril-
liancy, to the most gifted orators of a period when men bor-
rowed their best inspiration from the earnest convictions
and strong passions of the moment. To him, in no small
degree, was owing the courage, the cohesion, and the tri-
umph of the popular party of his native city ; and when he
left that city for the parish to which, at an unusually early
period of life he was appointed, and afterwards when he
quitted the shores of his native land for that great country
with which his fame is inseparably associated, he was fol-
lowed by the best wishes of every friend of freedom, ex-
pressed as well by substantial tokens as in eloquent words.
Thus was Bishop England especially prepared for the work
he had to do in his new field of labour ; his acquaintance
with public affairs, and his faculty of dealing with questions
other 'than those within the immediate province of a minis-
ter of religion, frequently obtaining for him the most valu-
able influence with people of position and authority.
We now turn to the diary, which thus opens : —

On Monday, the 10th of July, 1820, I received in Bandon a letter from
the Reverend Henry Hughes, dated June 17, 1820, at Rome, informing
me that on the preceding Monday I had been appointed Bishop of Charles-
ton, in South Carolina, and requesting of me, for various reasons therein
alleged, to accept of this appointment.

September 21st. — I received the grace of Episcopal Consecration in
the Catholic Church of St. Finbarr's, in the city of Cork, from the
Right Rev. Dr. Murphy, Bishop of the Diocese, assisted by the Right

DR. ENGLAND, BISHOP OF CHARLESTON. 383

Rev. Dr. Maram, Bishop of Ossory, and Kelly, first Bishop of Rich-
mond (Virginia), whose appointment was subsequent to mine, but
whose consecration took place at Kilkenny on the 24th of August.
There were present, the Most Rev. Dr. Everard, Archbishop of Myte-
lene. coadjutor of the Most Rev. Dr. Bray, Archbishop of Cashel,
and the Right Rev. Drs. Coppinger, of Cloyne and Ross, Sughrue
of Ardfert and Aghadoe (Kerry), and Tuohy of Limerick

October llth. — I having many applications from priests and can-
didates for places on the American mission, I appointed my brother,
the Rev. Thomas R. England, and the Rev. Thomas O'Keeffe, my
Vicars-General, for the purpose principally of selecting such of those
as 1 may afterwards want, and if necessary having them ordained.
This day was the anniversary— twelve years— of my ordination to
the priesthood. On this day I parted from my family to go whither I
thought God had called me. but whither I had no other desire to go.
Should this be read by a stranger, let him pardon that weakness of
our common nature which then affected me, and does now after the
lapse of three months.

December 26th. — Found soundings iu 35 fathoms water, and on
the next day saw the Hunting Islands on the coast of South Carolina,
after a very tedious and unpleasant passage. On the evening of the
27th came to anchor off Charleston Bar, and on the 28th crossed it,
and worked up the channel, and came to anchor in the evening.

December 30th. — Came on shore in Charleston; saw the Rev.
Benedict Fenwick, S.O.I., who was Vicar-General of the Archbishop
of Baltimore, who exhibited to me his papers. I gave him my Bulls
and Certificates, received the resignation of his authority, and re-
newed his faculties of Vicar-General for my diocese, as Bishop of
Charleston, which he accepted.

December 31st. — Being Sunday, I had the happiness of celebrating
Mass, took possession of the church, had my Bulls published, and
preached.

Dr. England soon made himself acquainted with the
condition of his diocese, which in all respects was far from
encouraging. Upon enquiry he found that there was a
congregation in the City of Savannah (Georgia), but that
it had been deserted, and he took into consideration the
necessity of having a priest for that mission. He deter-
mined to visit Savannah and Augusta, and Warrenton in
Georgia, and Columbia in South Carolina, without delay.
Appointing the Rev. Mr. Fenwick his Vicar-General, with

384 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

full powers until his return to Charleston, and requesting
him to purchase ground for a second temporary church in
that city, and if possible procure a good site for a large
cathedral, he went on board the sloop ' Delight,' and sailed
for Savannah on the 15th of January, 1821. He found
there had been no priest in that city since the previous
October ; and to repair the evil caused by the want of a
clergyman for so long a time, he commenced a vigorous
course of instruction, followed by the administration of the
sacraments. The following entry affords an idea of his
energy, and of the attention which he already excited
amongst non-Catholics.

'January 21. — Heard confessions, celebrated the Holy
Mass, and administered the Holy Communion to 27 per-
sons. Gave Confirmation to 15 persons. At half-past ten
o'clock I spoke on the erection of the See, on my own
authority, and publicly committed the flock of Savan-
nah to the care of the Rev. Robert Browne until I should
think proper to remove him ; and after Mass I preached
to a large congregation, amongst whom were the principal
lawyers of Savannah, and many other strangers. In the
evening I had vespers, and gave an exhortation and bene-
diction— Church crowded and surrounded.'

The next entry records the same round of duty, with this
paragraph added : ' Was asked by the Mayor and others to
preach in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which I de-
clined for the present.'

Appointing * John Dillon to read prayers for Mass on
Sunday,' until the return of the Rev. Mr. Browne, whom
he took with him on his visitation, the Bishop proceeded
to Augusta, which place he reached after two days of hard
travelling. After a brief but energetic work in this city,
where he administered Confirmation * to John McCormick,
Esq., and 48 others,' he set out for Locust Grove, whose
Catholic congregation had not had the benefit of a pastor
for several years.

BISHOP ENGLAND'S DIARY. 385

Arrived there at nightfall, and was most kindly received by old and
young Mrs. Thompson, to the former of whom great merit is due
before God, for preserving the faith in this country, This was the
first Catholic congregation in Georgia; it was formed in 1794 or 1795
by the settlement of Mrs. Thompson's family and a few others from
Maryland. Bishop Carroll, of Baltimore, sent the Rev. Mr. Le
Mercier to attend them. After eighteen months he went to Savannah,
and Rev. Mr. Sujet then remained seventeen months, and returned to
France. There was no clergyman there until November 1810, when
the Rev. Robert Browne came to take charge of Augusta and its
vicinity, and remained until 1815. This place was occasionally
visited by Rev. Mr. Egan and Rev. Mr. Cooper.

Like all Catholic priests, Bishop England was particu-
larly solicitous for the welfare of the negroes. The policy
of the Church was not to oppose an institution which was
altogether beyond its province or jurisdiction ; but its
ministers nevertheless did what they could to elevate the
moral condition of the slave through religious influences,
and also sought to improve their temporal condition by
inducing their owners to respect the sanctity and validity
of the marriage tie.* In Locust Grove, Bishop England
found several Catholic negroes, amongst whom were some
both 'intelligent and well-instructed.'

There he preached his first open-air sermon. 'The
church being too small, and several persons huving col-
lected from various parts of the neighbourhood, I preached
from an elevation outside to about 400 persons.' At
"Warrenton, he says, 'I met three Cherokee Indians, viz.
Colonel Dick, who could speak a little English, John
Thompson, and Sampson, to whom I gave their breakfast.
I showed the Colonel my ring and cross, of which he took
particular notice, and told him I intended visiting his
nation ; he said he would know me.'

At Columbia he finds a flock consisting 'of about 250
persons, principally Irish labourers employed in making

* For greater convenience, and not to interfere with the sketch which I give
of the progress of the Catholic Church in America, I prefer treating the subject of
its relation to Slavery in a note at the end of the volume.

17

386 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the canal/ There was no church, and the Bishop ' there-
fore preached in the Court-house that night to a very
numerous and respectable congregation,' mostly Pro-
testants. He makes strenuous efforts to commence a
church : and on his committee of collection we see such
genuine Irish names as Peter M'Guire and John Heffer-
nan.

Eeturning to Charleston, Dr. England addressed himself,
with renewed energy, to his great labours. He now com-
menced a course of lectures which laid the foundation of
a fame that ere long spread through every State in the
Union, and attracted the attention of the most thoughtful
and intellectual. The first was on the Existence of God ;
the second on the Nature and Necessity of Religion ; the
third on the Establishment of the Church by Our Saviour ;
the fourth on the Marks of the True Church, 'exhibited
in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and in that alone/
These discourses, which were continued during Lent, were
not without result ; for, under date of April, 28, there are
recorded in the diary the names of several converts, in-
cluding that of ' a lawyer of eminence/

In the last week of Lent the Bishop published a cate-
chism, which, he says, 'I had much labour in compiling
from various others, and adding several parts which I con-
sidered necessary to be explicitly dwelt upon under the
peculiar circumstances of my diocese/

The number of communicants in Charleston in the
Easter fortnight (1821) was 250.

'April 26. Established the Book Society, and had the
necessary measures taken to establish a general committee,
and to have the Society extended throughout my diocese/

The following passage, though descriptive of the condi-
tion of the Catholics of that day in a Southern State, was
just as applicable to most other parts of the Union, save
where a priest was regularly stationed. Indeed it as accu-
rately represented the condition of Catholics in a vast

BISHOP ENGLAND'S MISSIONARY LABOURS. 387

number of places in thirty years after it was written. It
was written of Wilmington : —

May Itith — Celebrated Mass at my lodging, and gave an exhorta-
tion to those who attended. After breakfast met the Catholics, about
twenty men : not a woman or child of the Catholic faith. No priest
had ever been fixed here, nor in the neighbourhood. A Rev. Mr.
Burke had spent a fortnight here about twenty-five years before, and
a Jesuit going to some Spanish settlement spent two or three days
in the town about the year 1815, and baptised the children of Mr.

: but their mother being a Methodist, they were not educated in

the faith. The Catholics who lived here, and they who occasionally
came hither, were in the habit of going to other places of worship —
Episcopal Protestant, Methodist, and Presbyterian — and had nearly lost
all idea of Catholicity. I spoke on the necessity of their assembling
together on Sundays for prayer and instruction, and of their forming
a branch of the Book Society, to both of which they readily agreed,
and then recommended their entering into 'a subscription to procure a
lot for a church, and to commence building, as I would take care
they should be occasionally visited by a priest. I also exhorted them
to prepare for the sacraments.

I received an invitation from the pastor and trustees of the Pres-
byterian Church to use their building (the best in the town), which
upon consideration I accepted. I was waited upon by the Protestant
minister, who ottered me his church also, which of course I declined,
as having accepted of the other. In the evening I preached to a
very large congregation, on the nature of the Catholic religion.

Here was a fitting occasion for the zeal of the young
Bishop ; and we find him daily exhorting his own little
flock, and also preaching each evening to large and atten-
tive congregations — 'On the nature of Redemption, the
Mission of the Apostles, and the Authority of the Church
to explain the Scriptures and teach the doctrines of Christ
by her traditions/ Nor was his labour without fruit, as
he established a branch of the Book Society, raised by
subscription 1,160 dollars for a church, and received some
converts of note.

Among the entries of May 12th, there is this record:
'Baptised George Washington, aged three years, son of

388 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Patrick Murphy and Rebecca Lear ; sponsor, J. P. Cal-
nardo.'

'May 20 Was requested by some Protestant

gentlemen to preach twice this evening, as I was to leave
town in the morning. I complied with their request, and
preached at half-past three and at seven o'clock, to very
full congregations. There was created in Wilmington a
spirit of inquiry, and the prejudices which were very
general against Catholics were removed.'

In a place near South Washington, we are told that
John Doyle, an Irishman, is the only Catholic. In New-
bern we find a state of things exactly the reverse of that
described in Wilmington. In Wilmington there were
twenty Catholic men, and not a single woman or child of
the faith; but in Newbern there are 'upwards of twenty
Catholics, principally females.' A priest had visited them
seven months previously. Here the Bishop baptised two
converts, ' men of colour.'

In North Washington the Catholics were ' few and gene-
rally negligent.' No priest since the previous year. ' The
Methodists have a meeting-house, the Baptists a temporary
place, but there is no other house of worship.' The Bishop
not only preached in the Court-house in the evenings, but
said Mass in it in the mornings ; and the congregations
increasing, the converts, including people of colour, coming
in, and favourable impressions being made upon others,
who took time to consider what they should do, we are not
surprised to learn that 'the Baptist and Methodist leaders
were drawing off the hearers to the best of their power.'

On his arrival in Plymouth he finds but one Catholic ;
but in a day after he discovers a second. Still, he is well
received, and actually establishes a Book Society. ' Find-
ing,' he says, 'an anxiety to hear me, I consented to re-
main, and preach twice this day, to about 40 persons at
eleven o'clock, and to a much larger congregation at five
o'clock, at the Academy, which was the only public building

THE BISHOP'S TRIALS. 389

in the town.' For three days he preached, both morning
and evening ; on the third evening he ' preached to a very
crowded congregation in the Academy, after which the
Book Society met, and elected their officers.' It was on
that evening that the Bishop discovered the second Catholic
in the town.

In other places he finds a few Catholics, the greater
number attending the Methodist or Baptist places of
worship, there being no Catholic church, and the visits of
a priest being ' few, and far between.' Whatever the nature
of the congregation, whatever its admixture of nationalities,
Irish are to be found amongst them ; thus, next to a high-
sounding Spanish name, we alight upon a Daniel Flynn, a
Michael Dempsey, or an Ignatius Crowiey.' Deputations
wait upon him to request he will preach in Protestant
churches or in Court-houses, which he generally does, and
with advantage to the cause of truth. But converts are
lukewarm, and Catholics relapse into in differ entism ; and
priests cannot be had, or are not always reliable, being
discouraged by the hardships of a seemingly unpromising
mission ; and troubles and perplexities plant the Bishop's
mitre with plentiful thorns ; and rheumatisms rack his
bones, and fevers break down his strength ; and to add to
his afflictions, poverty oppresses him. ' I was frequently/
says the Bishop of three great States, 'without a dollar,
from the wretched state of the income, and the bad dispo-
sition of the infidel portion who professed to belong to the
flock.' Still, in spite of incessant toil in the mission, and
drudgery in his seminary, and the constant pressure of
poverty, he continued to extend his Book Society, and
establish in Charleston, in 1822, a weekly newspaper,
called The United States Catholic Miscellany, which, under
his management, became, one of the most potent means
of vindicating the faith, and refuting the calumnies so
constantly circulated by its opponents ; in fact, it soon
grew to be a power in the country.

390 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

' December 28th, 1822. Columbia. I preached in the
House of Representatives, at the request of the Legislature.'

' April 24th, 1823. Celebrated Mass and exhorted, and
after dinner returned to Camden, and stopped by invita-
tion with Mr. Salmond, a Presbyterian.'

'April 24. Mr. Salmond was kind enough to find the
Catholics and to bring them to me. They consisted of the
following persons (French, Spanish, and Irish names), to
whom I gave the usual commission. I gave them some
books, and heard the confession of one who presented
himself. At the request of the inhabitants I preached in
the evening in the new Presbyterian Church, to a very
large congregation. I afterwards baptised three children.'

"With one other extract we shall conclude a notice of
the Bishop's diary, from which sufficient has been given to
afford the reader a true picture of a mission throughout
which Catholics were thinly scattered, and in which they
had to depend, in a very great measure, upon their own
steadfastness to retain even a semblance of their faith. In
purely country districts — perhaps not visited for years by
a clergyman — matters were necessarily worse ; notwith-
standing which there were many, many instances of Irish
Catholics keeping the faith alive under the most discour-
aging circumstances.

April 29th, 1823.— Fay etteville. Heard confessions, celebrated
Mass, and exhorted ; had four communicants — baptised a child. I
found that the congregation had regularly prayed together on the
Sundays and holidays, until the sickly season, when they fell off. I
endeavoured, to prevail upon them to resume the good practice.
Superseded the former commission, and issued a new one to John
Kelly, Dillon Jordan, Laurence Fitzharriss, Doctor James Moflfet, and
Daniel Kenny. Was invited to preach at the State House. In the
evening I again saw the Catholics, and exhorted them to persevere —
spoke to several individually. At eight o'clock I preached in the
State House to a very large and attentive audience.

As years went on, so did the fame of Bishop England
increase, until the time came when, from one end of the

BISHOP ENGLAND'S GROWING FAME. 391

Union to the other, his name became a household word
with Catholics of every nationality, who recognised in him
a champion fully equipped, and equal to the good fight.
The feeling of his own countrymen towards him cannot be
described, so intense was their pride in his great qualities
—his power of pen and tongue, his resistless force as a
controversialist, his capacity for public affairs — the noble-
ness and grandeur of his nature, which ah1 men respected,
and which made for him the fastest friends among those
who were not of his Church. There were other great and
good bishops, who by their saintly character and holy lives
commanded a respectful toleration for their faith ; but
Bishop England extorted respect for his religion by the
matchless power with which he unfolded its principles to
those who crowded round him wherever he went, and
refuted the calumnies and misrepresentations that had
been the stock-in-trade of the enemies of Catholicity for
centuries. Like all Irishmen, of that day as of the pre-
sent, Bishop England at once became an American citizen,
thoroughly identified with his adopted country, proud of
her greatness, jealous of her honour, loving her beyond all
others, save that old land whose recollection lay warm in
his heart.

392 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XVIH.

Bishop England's Diocese — 'Music hath Charms' — Preach-
ing by the Wayside — William George Read— ' Mister Paul' —
Taking a Fresh Start— Father O'Neill's Two Hundred Child-
ren.

"OISHOP England's diocese, as we have seen, was suffi-
D ciently extensive to satisfy the most insatiate thirst
for wide-spread jurisdiction. It extended from Charleston
to Elizabeth city, North Carolina, a distance of 450 miles,
and from Charleston to within 80 miles of Mobile — about
800 miles in the two directions. It was from 250 to 300
miles broad. Still, extensive as this vast territory was, it
was not too much so for the energy of this extraordinary
man, and the ardour of his priestly zeal. He would get
through his missionary labours in this manner : possessing
a little carriage, indifferently described as a 'sulky,' 'buggy,'
or ' waggon,' the Bishop endeavoured, perhaps with the
aid of one of his few monied friends, to purchase a pair of
serviceable horses, or strong ponies, and, accompanied by a
negro boy as driver, he would travel from place to place,
preaching, instructing, and administering the sacraments ;
and on his return, it might be in three months, six months,
or even nine months, he would readily and even profitably
dispose of his cattle, then more valuable than at the com-
mencement of the journey, owing to the training to which
they had been subjected.

Many a strange incident, and even startling adventure,
occurred to the Bishop during his long and arduous jour-
nejings, at a time when the roads were little better or

'MUSIC HATH CHARMS.7 393

worse than tracks, the population was thinly scattered, and
accommodation, even of the rudest kind, was not always
to be had. Frequently, the shelter of the forest was all
that could be obtained in those days for the traveller.
Once in a city or town, he was sure of being well received ;
for while prejudice kept some aloof from the 'Popish
Bishop,' curiosity, and the irrepressible desire of Americans
to listen to sermons, discourses, 'lectures' of any descrip-
tion, impelled numbers to hear a man who was famous for
his eloquence. Halls, court-houses, concert-rooms, churches
and chapels, would be freely placed at his disposal ; and
the probability is, that he rarely suffered from lack of
hospitality under those circumstances. But there were
occasions when the Bishop found it difficult enough to
make out a dinner, or secure the shelter of a roof against
the night. Even in the Southern States, which are pro-
verbial for the unaffected hospitality of their people, churls
were to be met with, at least in Dr. England's time.

One evening the Bishop, who was on this occasion
accompanied by one of his few priests — Father O'Neill ; it
need scarcely be added, a countryman of his own — drew
up at a house of rather moderate dimensions, whose master
was a marked specimen of the species Surly. Negotiations
were entered into for a dinner, which the liberal host was
willing to give on certain conditions, somewhat exorbitant
in their nature ; but there was to be no further accom-
modation. 'You cannot stop the night, nohow,' said the
agreeable owner of the mansion ; and his look of dogged
dislike was quite as emphatic as his words. After dinner,
Dr. England sat on a chair in the piazza, and read his
' office ; ' while Father O'Neill, having no desire to enjoy
the company of his unwilling entertainer, sauntered to-
wards the carriage, a little distance off, where the boy
was feeding the horses ; and taking his flute from his
portmanteau, he sat on a log, and commenced his favourite
air, ' The last Rose of Summer,' into which he seemed to

394 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

breathe the very soul of tenderness. From one exquisite
melody to another the player wandered, while the negro
boy grinned with delight, and the horses enjoyed their
food with a keener relish. That

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,

was here exemplified, As the sweet notes stole on the
soft night air of the South, and reached the inhospitable
mansion, a head was eagerly thrust forth, and the project-
ing ears thereof appeared eagerly to drink in the flood
of melody. Another lovely air, one of those which bring
involuntary tears to the eyes, and fill the heart with
balm, was played with lingering sweetness, when a voice,
husky with emotion, was heard uttering these words —
'Strangers! don't "go! — do stay all night! — don't go ; we'll
fix you somehow.' It was the voice of the charmed host !
That evening the two guests enjoyed the snuggest seats at
the hearth, Father O'Neill playing for the family till a late
hour. Next morning the master of the house would not
accept of the least compensation. ' No, no, Bishop ! no, no,
Mr. O'Neill ! not a cent ! You're heartily welcome to it.
Come as often as you please, and stay as long as you
can. We'll be always glad to see you ; but,' specially
addressing Father O'Neill, 'be sure and don't forget the
flute!'

There were occasions when not even Orpheus himself
could have made out a dinner or a bed, had he been, like
Bishop England, on the mission in the Southern States.
Orpheus would have had to sleep where he could, and
c^rry his dinner with him, as the Bishop very often did.
The Bishop was not unfrequently obliged to be his own
groom and servant, to look after the comfort of his horse,
and see to the cooking of his simple meal. Tying the
horse to a stake or a tree, he would brush him down and
supply him with corn, and then commence preparations
for his own refreshment. One night in the woods, the

PREACHING BY THE WAYSIDE. 395

Bishop and Father O'Neill had taken their frugal supper,
read their 'office/ and lain down by the fire to sleep; but.
they had not been long asleep when they awoke in fright :
a few moments more, and the forest would have been on
fire, and perhaps the two missionaries ' roasted like chest-
nuts,' as Father O'Neill afterwards said. The parasite ivy
had caught the flame, and it was rapidly encircling a
gigantic tree in an embrace of fire. By the most extraor-
dinary exertions, such as fear could alone inspire, the ivy
was torn down, the fire extinguished, the forest saved, and
the great missionary longer preserved to the American
Church.

The desire to hear the Bishop was not confined to any
particular class ; it was common to all. A somewhat curi-
ous instance, illustrative of his popularity as a preacher,
occurred during one of his journeys. Arriving at a kind
of wayside inn, or what may be described as a carman's
stage, the Bishop found himself in the midst of a large
convoy of cotton — waggons drawn by horses and mules,
with a number of- drivers and attendants, white men and
negroes. His horses had been fed, and he was about to
resume his journey, when a grave elderly man, who
seemed to be in command, approached him with every
mark of respect, saying — ' Stranger, are you Bishop Eng-
land?' On being answered hi the affirmative, he con-
tinued— 'Mr. Bishop, we've heerd tell of you much. The
folks say you are the most all-fired powerful preacher in
this country. I had to leave Washington before you got
there, and I can't get to Milledgeville till you're gone.
Would you, Mr. Bishop, mind giving us a bit of a sermon
right here ? It'll obleege me and my friends much — do,
Mr. Bishop.' ' Do, Mr. Bishop ! ' was taken up, in full
chorus, by the rest. The appeal so urged was irresistible
with the zealous missionary, who yielded a ready assent.
On the stump of a tree, which had been cut down to
widen the road, the Bishop took his stand, the branches

396 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of a huge cedar flinging their grateful shadow over the
preacher and the reverent group that clustered round
him in mute expectation. It was a scene for a painter —
the great overhanging forest, the rude weather-stained log
house, the open clearing lit up by a glowing sun, the huge
waggons with their horses and mules, the bronzed weather-
beaten countenances of the whites, the great eyes and
gleaming teeth of negroes of every hue and tint. But the
principal figure was not unworthy of its prominence — a
man in the prime of life, of powerful well-knit frame, his
lower limbs clad in breeches and silk stockings, that ex-
hibited a leg of model symmetry — a face strong, massive,
dark, full of power and passion — an eye that looked as if
it would search the very soul : this was Bishop England,
as he stood upon that tree stump by the wayside. Soon
were his willing audience bound by the spell of his elo-
quence, as he unfolded before them the grand truths of
religion, and explained to them their duties to God and
their fellow-men. He had been about twenty minutes
addressing them, when the leader stepped forward, and
raising his hand, said — ' That will do, Mr. Bishop, that
will do ; we're much obleeged to you, Mr. Bishop ; it's
all just as the folks say — you are an all-fired powerful
preacher. We'd like to hear you always, but we musn't
stop you now. Thank you, Mr. Bishop, thank you. Mr.
Bishop.' ' Thank you, Mr. Bishop,' cried the rest in chorus.
And amidst a cheer that would have tried the nerves
of horses less trained than his, the Bishop started on
his journey.

A brief memoir, or biographical sketch, is given in the
first volume of ' The Works of the Eight Kev. John Eng-
land, First Bishop of Charleston,' published by Murphy
and Co., of Baltimore. The memoir, too brief for the
illustrious subject, is evidently written by one who loved
the man, revered the prelate, and thoroughly appreciated
his power of intellect, his energy of character, and his

WILLIAM GEORGE READ. 397

boundless zeal. To an apparently trivial incident was that
tribute eventually due. How the Bishop became known
to his future biographer happened in this way :

A lady of rank and refinement came to Baltimore with
the view of consulting a dentist of repute ; whom she
accordingly visited shortly after her arrival in that city.
The case, though important to the lady, was not of that
acute nature which required immediate attention ; and the
dentist having satisfied himself on this point, asked his
visitor to excuse him that day, as he had made an engage-
ment which he was very anxious to keep. 'In fact,
madam, Bishop England, the most celebrated preacher in
our country, is now in this city, and I had determined to
hear him.' 'By all means, sir/ replied the lady, £do carry
out your intention — I can call as conveniently to-morrow.'
The lady withdrew : but not well knowing how to dispose
of her time, which hung rather heavily on her hands, she
thought she could not do better, in order to occupy an
hour or so, than go and hear the famous preacher. She
went ; and so strong was the impression produced on her
mind by the Bishop, then in the full vigour of his in-
tellect, that she became half a Catholic on the spot. On
her return she confided to her brother — a man of consider-
able eminence as a scholar, and a gentleman of the highest
personal character — the change wrought in her opinions
respecting the Catholic Church. The brother received the
startling intelligence with feelings of alarm and indigna-
tion. But how check the evil ? — how draw her back from
the fatal goal to which, with all the ardour and impulsive-
ness of a woman, she was so rapidly hurrying ? He should
himself undertake the fraternal duty of solving her doubts,
and confuting her new-born errors ; and the more surely
to convince her of her folly, he commenced an earnest
course of reading and enquiry — and in order to foil the
Bishop with his own weapons, he resolved to hear him
preach. He did go ; and such was the power of the

398 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

preacher, and the honest candour of the listener, that the
alarmed and indignant brother was actually received into
the Church before the sister, who was only on the road to it !
And from the date of his conversion the Catholic Church
in America had not a bolder or abler champion than
William George Head, the author of the ' Memoir of Bishop
England.'

The clenching force of the Bishop's manner of reasoning
may be illustrated by the following reply given by an Irish-
man, who was one of the warmest admirers of his distin-
guished countryman : —

' Well, Pat,' said a lady to the Irishman, ' what do you
think of your Bishop ? '

' Think of him, ma'am ! faith, ma'am, I think a deal of
him, and why not? Isn't he grand, ma'am, when he
crosses his two arms on his breast, and looks round at them
all, after one of his regular smashers, as much as to say —
" Answer me that, and be d d to you ! "

' Oh Pat ! ' remonstrated the lady, who, whatever she
thought of the criticism, was somewhat startled at the
manner jn which it was expressed.

To break a lance with the 'Popish Bishop' was an
object of no small ambition to the controversialists of his
day ; and many a fledgling repented his rash attempt to
provoke him to an encounter. Animated by the determina-
tion to crush the great champion of Home, a young preacher
was unlucky enough to fasten on the Bishop with the per-
tinacity of a gad-fly. The Bishop happened to be travelling
in the same stage with the preacher,- and was engaged in
an earnest conversation with some of his follow-passengers,
themselves men of mark and position, on a matter which
then excited considerable public attention. To the preacher
the subject of conversation had no attraction at that
moment ; he was only thinking of the splendid opportunity
which the occasion afforded of striking a blow that would
be heard of throughout America, and possibly be felt in

'MISTER PAUL.' 399

the halls of the Vatican. First, he ventured a question,
then a sneer, then a challenge, but without effect : the
Bishop altogether disregarded his would-be antagonist, and
merely waved him off with a careless gesture or a careless
phrase. The spiritual Quixote would not be put down,
and would not be waved off ; he was resolved on piercing
the armour of his scornful foe, and humbling his pride
in the presence of chosen spectators of his controversial
prowess ; and so he persevered, interrupting the conversa-
tion, to the annoyance of the other passengers, who pre-
ferred the discussion of a topic in which they had a
personal and immediate interest, to a bootless polemical
disputation. The valiant preacher was not to be extin-
guished by the cunning evasions or cowardly subterfuges
of the faint-hearted Romanist ; so he came again and again
to the charge, flinging St. Paul at the Bishop with the
most destructive intention. It was nothing but ' Paul '
here, and ' Paul ' there, and how could the champion of
the ' Scarlet Woman ' get over Paul ? — and what answer
could ' Antichrist ' make to Paul ? The nuisance becoming
intolerable, the Bishop determined to put an end to it
effectually. Confronting the preacher, and directing upon
him the blaze of his great eyes, which gleamed with irre-
pressible fun, he placed his hands with solemn gesture on
his knees, and in a deep voice gave utterance to this
strange rebuke : — ' Young man, young man ! if you have
not faith and piety sufficient to induce you to call the
Apostle " Saint Paul," at least have the good manners to
call him " Mister Paul," and do not be perpetually calling
him " Paul," " Paul," as if you considered him no better
than a nigger.' The words, assisted by the comical gravity
with which they were uttered, and enforced by the roar of
laughter with which they were received by the delighted
passengers, who had so long suffered from the infliction of
his misdirected zeal, extinguished the poor preacher, who
rapidly hid himself in the town at which the stage had

400 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

just arrived. Nor was this the end of the disastrous en-
counter— for the story having soon got abroad, the unlucky
man was interrupted by some irreverent wag, with ' Mister
Paul — Mister Paul/ while addressing the congregation
whom he had come to enlighten and inspire ; and he had
to leave the place in consequence of the absurdity of the
affair.

One of Bishop England's most zealous and efficient
clergymen was the Rev. Mr. O'Neill, through the influence
of whose melodious flute he obtained, as we have seen, a
free dinner and a good bed from one of the rustiest cur-
mudgeons in South Carolina. Father O'Neill was an Irish
priest of the finest type, genial, cheery, and light-hearted,
but earnest, and even stern, when the occasion required.
Arrived at a patriarchal age, and honoured and respected
by all classes of the community, he is still on the mission
in the city of Savannah.

Father O'Neill could preach quite as well as he could
play, nor was his tongue a less persuasive instrument than
his flute. Indeed, it may be doubted if, in his most
inspired moment, he could perform as successfully with
the former as with the latter, and for the same length of
time hold his audience spell-bound with the one as with
the other. For Father O'Neill had marvellous powers of
endurance as a preacher, or lecturer ; and his audience
were so 'kept alive ' by his manner, in which argument,
illustration, wit, and delicate humour were agreeably
blended, that they did not perceive the time passing,
and were rather sorry than otherwise when ' the Father '
gave in.

On one occasion he was preaching somewhere in Georgia,
and the country round had assembled to hear him. At
the end of two hours and a half, during which there was
not the slightest symptom of weariness exhibited by a
densely crowded audience, he said that the expiring con-
dition of the candles warned him to bring his remarks to

TAKING A FRESH START. 401

a close. Quick as thought, an Irishwoman, who occupied a
conspicuous position among the audience, and who would
willingly have sat there till morning, cried out, 'Never
mind that, your reverence ; sure we brought half-a-box of
candles along with us, as we- thought you'd need them/
The wise considerateness of the Irishwoman was bailed
with general satisfaction, and with brighter auspices the
preacher resumed his discourse.

There was one occasion, however, when Father O'Neill
surpassed all his former achievements. It was on the re-
ception of a Mrs. Taylor into the Catholic Church.

Mrs. Taylor was a lady of good social position, whose
conversion to Catholicism excited much interest among
her friends and neighbours. Her reception into the
church was to be made an occasion of some solemnity,
and invitations were sent to the gentry for miles round,
requesting their attendance at the ceremony, which was to
be followed by a banquet of more than usual elegance and
profusion. The auspicious morning arrived. In the grand
saloon, where an altar had been erected, were assembled
sixty or seventy people, and crowding in front of the win-
dows of the apartment were groups of negroes, to whom the
day was to be one of welcome rest and rejoicing. At the
termination of the Mass, Mrs. Taylor was to be received.
Punctual to the appointed hour — eight o'clock in the morn-
ing— Father O'Neill commenced. Wearing his soutane, or
cassock, he made his appearance at the temporary altar,
on which the various robes and vestments worn by a
priest in the celebration of Mass were placed. Keferring
to the purpose of the day's ceremony, he stated the leading
reasons why a Protestant should become a Catholic. He
then specially explained the doctrine of the Mass, dealing
with it as a sacrament and a sacrifice ; and having justified
the use of the Latin language in its celebration, he said he
would represent the symbolical meaning of each vestment
as he put it on ; which he did in a popular and persuasive

402 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

manner that excited the interest and rivetted the attention
of his audience. Having concluded his series of discourses,
and being then fully robed, he turned to the altar to com-
mence ; but seeing that one of the candles had been entirely
consumed, and that the other was flickering in its socket,
he glanced at his watch, and found that the hour was within
a quarter to two o'clock ! Zealous patriot ! patient audience !
Father O'Neill took the matter coolly, saying, ' My friends,
I have committed an oversight. According to the ordinary
laws of the Church, Mass should commence before twelve
o'clock. In a missionary country, like ours, we have the
privilege of commencing an hour later — any time up to
one. But now it is approaching two, and I cannot pro-
ceed with the service. I am sorry for your dissappoint-
ment this morning ; but if you will come to-morrow
morning at eight o'clock, we will take a fresh start.' The
audience bore the disappointment with perfect equanimity,
and were determined to see the ceremony to the end ; so
they enjoyed the hospitality of Mrs. Taylor for the re-
mainder of the day, and next morning again assembled in
the saloon at the appointed hoar, when Father O'Neill
took his fresh start ; this time with such energy, that the
whole was well finished by twelve o'clock.

But Father O'Neill could be t^uite as effective in a short
speech as in a lengthened discourse ; and on an occasion
of much interest, and in a time of no small anti-foreign
and anti-Catholic excitement, he delivered a few pithy
sentences which produced a most salutary effect. It was
at a public dinner in Savannah, to celebrate the inaugura-
tion of a monument erected to Pulaski, one of the heroes
of the Revolution of 1776, who, wounded at the Battle of
Savannah, had died a few days after. There had been a
procession and an oration in the day, and a grand dinner
was to be the agreeable wind-up of an event so dear to the
patriotic heart. There could be no public dinner in
Savannah that did not include the popular Irish priest as

FATHER O'NEILL'S TWO HUNDRED CHILDREN. 403

one of the guests, and, as a matter of invariable routine,
Father O'Neill should have a toast or a sentiment to
propose. It was in the time when the wretched ' Know-
Nothing' excitement was rife in most parts of America,
and the furious cry of 'Down with the foreigner! down
with the Papist ! ' found an echo in the South.

' I have listened,' said Father O'Neill, ' to the oration of
the day. It was excellent, so far as it went. But it
omitted one most essential point — about Pulaski himself.
I will supply the deficiency. Pulaski was a foreigner, who
had the extraordinary habit of saying his beads every-
day. He, a foreigner and a Catholic, shed his blood and
sacrificed his life for this country. And I am sure that
the monument erected by the grandsons of the heroic men
who fought and bled side by side with Pulaski, is a proof
that they still adhere to the glorious principles of their
fathers, who welcomed ah1 brave men — whatever their race
or religion — to their country^.'

The effect was electrical. The majority of the excited
audience exclaimed 'Bravo!' and cheered with ardour;
while the few hung their heads with shame, crushed by
the implied rebuke, and the courage which inspired its
utterance.

Father O'Neill lost and won the good graces of a Protes-
tant lady by an admission of paternity, which, well
understood in a Catholic country, was rather startling in
the America of that day. He and the Rev. Mr. Byrne,
afterwards Bishop of Arkansas, were travelling from Fay-
etteville to Cheraw, in South Carolina, and stopped for the
night at the house of a respectable Protestant lady. The
lady being elderly, used the privilege of her sex, and made
many enquiries respecting her guests. Having satisfied
herself on various points, she at length asked Father
O'Neill if he had a family. 'Yes, madam,' replied the
priest. 'How many children have you, sir?' enquired
the lady. 'Two hundred, madam,' was the astounding

404 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

answer.' Two — two — hundred, sir!5 gasped the bewil-
dered hostess. 'Yes, madam — two hundred,' coolly replied
her guest. Had there been Mormons in those days, she
might have imagined she had afforded hospitality to Brig-
ham Young himself ; but as Joe Smith had not then made
his famous discovery, she possibly had a vague idea of the
Grand Turk, or some such polygamous potentate, being
beneath her modest roof. She became silent and reserved,
displaying an icy civility to the minister with the appal-
lingly large family. On a subsequent occasion Mr. Byrne
travelled alone, and stopped at the same house. The old
lady rather hesitatingly enquired after ' the other minister,'
and then, with more marked hesitation, asked if it were
really true that he had so enormous a family as he said he
had. Father Byrne laughed heartily at the question, but
more at the manner in which it was asked, and explained
that Catholic priests did not marry ; that by his 200 ' child-
ren' Father O'Neill meant his congregation — whom he
regarded in that light. The 'old lady's face brightened
with pleasure at the explanation of what had been a source
of serious and constant perplexity to her ever since she had
heard the startling statement from the lips of 'the other
minister.' '"Well, sir, he must be a good man! ' she said ;
' I am sorry I did not understand him at the time. That's
just the way a minister should speak and think of his flock.
Be sure, sir, to give him my respects when you meet him,
and tell him I shall be always happy to have him in this
house.' For the future the good old soul felt no embarrass-
ment when enquiring after the two hundred children of
the Irish Priest.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Dangers from within and without — The Lay Trustees — A Daring
Hoax— Burning of the Charlestown Convent — A Grateful Ruf-
fian—'Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk '—Protestant Verdict
on Maria Monk.

were in those early days of the American Church
L dangers from within as well as dangers from without,
and it may be said that the former were more perilous
to the Church, and a more formidable obstacle to her influ-
ence and progress, than those which were purely external.
These interior causes of difficulty arose mainly from the
system of lay trusteeship, which in too many dioceses —
notably Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston — were
the occasion of long-standing feuds, and of grave public
scandal. Certain members of the laity — generally men of
little faith, much vanity, and strong self-conceit — braved
and defied the authority of their Bishops, treated with con-
tempt the discipline of the Church, and even ventured to
appoint and dismiss pastors at their pleasure ! The great
body of the faithful had no sympathy whatever with the
acts of those who, not only by their intrigues and turbu-
lence, but by making their contentions the subject of con-
stant proceedings in courts of law, brought much discredit
on Catholicity. It required, on the part of the Bishop
who found himself so painfully circumstanced, not merely
the greatest prudence and wisdom, but firmness and de-
termination. Occasionally, either through gentleness of
nature or utter weariness of soul, or from a spirit of con-
ciliation— in the hope of healing an ugly wound, and

406 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

preventing further evil — a Bishop consented to surrender
some portion of his legitimate authority ; but there were
others, and those the larger number, who, being of stronger
and sterner nature, resolutely set their foot against all
and every encroachment on the episcopal functions, and, by
sheer force of character, vanquished the intriguers, and
crushed schism wherever it showed its head. It would be a
profitable task to refer further to events which may be left
to merited oblivion, but which planted thorns in the mitre
of many an American prelate. There is, however, a cir-
cumstance connected with the schism in Philadelphia to
which allusion may be made with profit.

To the conduct of a misguided and headstrong priest
named Hogan, who afterwards apostatized and took to
self a wife, was due a prolonged scandal in the city of
Philadelphia. It is sufficient to state that, although deprived
of his faculties by his bishop, he still continued to perform
the priestly functions — openly defying the episcopal au-
thority. The daring contumacy of the unhappy man left
no option to the bishop but at once to cut him off from
the church of which he proved himself so unworthy a
minister ; and the priest was accordingly excommunicated
according to the form prescribed by the Roman pontifical.
This necessary act of vigour on the part of the Bishop of
Philadelphia was made the occasion of one of the most
daring literary frauds probably heard of in America before
that date — though, as we shall show a little further on, a
second, of more serious consequences, was perpetrated in
a few years after. The excommunication being a matter
of public notoriety, it was deemed advisable by 'the enemies
of the Church to turn it to the best account against the
' tyranny and despotism of Borne ; ' and accordingly there
was published in a Philadelphia newspaper a form of ex-
communication which, naturally enough, excited no little
horror in the mind of the community. A sample or two

A DARING HOAX. 407

of this precious document will afford the reader a sufficient
idea of the whole :

May he be damned wherever he be, whether in the house or in the
stable, the garden, or the field, or the highway, or in the path, or in
the wood, or in the water, or in the church ; may he be cursed in
living and in dying ;

May he be cursed inwardly and outwardly, may he be cursed in his
brains, and in his vertex — in his temples, in his eyes, in his eyebrows,
in bis cheeks, in his jaw-bones, in his nostrils, in his teeth and grind-
ers, in his lips, in his throat, in his shoulders, in his arms, in his
fingers.

May he be damned in his mouth, in his breast, in his heart and
purtenance, down to the very stomach.

Even his 'toe-nails' were not spared in this terrible
anathema. Those who search for the original of this ex-
communication in the Roman pontifical would fail to
discover it there ; but those familiar with light literature
may find it in Tristram Shandy! In his Miscellany, which
did so much for the defence of the Church and the
cause of religion, Bishop England, who was thoroughly
familiar with the writings of Laurence Sterne, promptly
exposed the unblushing fraud. But as it is difficult to
overtake a lie, let it have never so short a start, many
believed in the cursing of the grinders and the toe-nails —
perhaps jlo to this day.

That the spirit of hostility to the Catholic Church was
as virulent as ever, we have evidence in the Pastoral Letter
of 1833 ; and an event which followed shortly after — the
burning of the convent of Charlestown, Massachusetts — is
a proof how successful were the appeals which were then,
as in years subsequent, made by malignant sectaries and
dishonest politicians to the passions of the unthinking and
the brutal The Bishops say : —

We notice with regret a spirit exhibited by some of the conductors
of the press engaged in the interests of those brethren separated
from our communion which has within a few years become more
unkind and unjust in our regard. Not only do they assail us and

408 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

our institutions in a style of vituperation and offence, misrepresent
our tenets, vilify our practices, repeat the hundred-times-refuted cal-
umnies of days of angry and bitter contention in other lands, but they
had even denounced you and us as enemies to the republic, and have
openly proclaimed the fancied necessity of not only obstructing our
progress, but of using their best efforts to extirpate our religion ; and
for this purpose they have collected large sums of money. It is
neither our principle nor our practice to render evil for evil, nor railing
for railing ; and we exhort you rather to the contrary, to render bless-
ing, for unto this you are called, that you by inheritance may obtain

a blessing We are too well known to our fellow citizens

to render it necessary that we should exhibit the uttor want of any
ground upon which such charges could rest. We, therefore, advise
you to heed them not ; but to continue, whilst you serve God with
fidelity, to discharge, honestly, faithfully, and with affectionate attach-
ment, your duties to the government under which you live, so that
we may, in common with our fellow-citizens, sustain that edifice of
rational liberty in which we find such excellent protection.

There are in Charlestown — a little outside the City of
Boston, which boasts, perhaps with justice, of being the
Athens of America — two monuments. One is a monu-
ment of glory. The other is a monument of bhame. On
Bunker's Hill is reared aloft a noble pillar, on which is
recorded the triumph of a young nation in the proud as-
sertion of its right to govern itself ; and among the, names
of the heroes who fought and bled in the cause of human
liberty are those of Catholics, foreigners and natives. On
Mount Benedict, from which the tower of liberty was every
day beheld, there remain to this hour the blackened ruins
of the Ursuline Convent, destroyed on the night of the
llth of August, 1834, by a ferocious mob, to whose law-
less violence neither check nor impediment of any kind
was offered. Deceived by reckless falsehood, blinded by
the foulest calumnies, their passions infuriated by the
harangues of clerical incendiaries, a savage multitude flung
themselves upon the dwelling of helpless women and
innocent children, and after plundering whatever was

BURNING OF THE CHARLESTOWN CONVENT. 409

portable, and destroying what they could not take away,
set fire to it amidst fiendish rejoicings, and with the
most complete impunity. What was the origin of this
infamous exhibition of ferocity and cowardice? A He — a
fiction — an invention — the coinage of a wicked or a foolish
brain. It was the old story, so grateful to the ear of
bigotry. A nun was said to be detained in the convent
against her will, and was there pining in a subterranean
dungeon ! The old story, but of marvellous vitality and
eternal freshness — told in Boston thirty-three years since
— told in Montreal in a few months after — told yesterday
or to-day Of any convent in England. To this story, old
and yet ever new, was added the usual imputation of
the systematic infamy of women whose lives were devoted
to God's service. On Sunday — the Lord's Day ! — the trum-
pet-note of hate was sounded from more than one pulpit ;
and on Monday night the fine institution, erected at great
cost, was given to destruction.

It would be a malignant slander on the fair fame of
Boston to assert that this disgraceful outrage, which sent
a thrill of horror and disgust through the civilised world,
was sympathised with by any considerable portion of the
citizens of that enlightened community. So far from
sympathising with a deed which was in the last degree
dishonouring to the reputation of their city, a number of
Protestant gentlemen, of position and influence, were
appointed at a meeting, publicly held the day after in
Faneuil Hall, to investigate the circumstances of the out-
rage, and assist in bringing the perpetrators to justice. A
report was presented by that committee, with the signa-
tures of thirty-eight eminent citizens attached to it. Drawn
up with singular ability, it put to shame the miserable
bigots to whose malice or fanatical credulity the national
scandal was entirely owing. The Committee, after describ-
ing the Order of Ursulines, their objects, and their institu-
tion—of which they state that of sixty pupils, ' for the most

18

410 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

part children of those among the most respectable families
in the country, of various religious denominations/ not
more than ten of whom at any time were Catholics — •
they present a striking picture of the outrage, which
they indignantly denounce. Even at this day — for cal-
umny is still rife, and fanaticism never dies — it may be
useful as well as instructive to reproduce this startling
description of what men will do when impelled by a blind
savage impulse of unchristian hate.

' At the time of this attack upon the convent,' say the Committee
of Protestant gentlemen, 'there were within its walls about sixty
female children and ten adults, one of whom was in the last stage of
pulmonary consumption, another suffering under convulsion fits, and
the unhappy female who had been the immediate cause of the excite-
ment was, by the agitation of this night, in raving delirium. No
warning was given of the intended assault, nor could the miscreants,
by whom it was made, have known whether their missiles might not
kill or wound the helpless inmates of this devoted dwelling. For-
tunately for them, cowardice prompted what mercy and manhood
denied : after the first attack the assailants paused awhile, from the
fear that some secret force was concealed in the convent, or in ambush
to surprise them ; and in the interval the governess was enabled to
secure the retreat of her little flock and terrified sisters into the garden.
But before this was fully effected, the rioters, finding they had nothing
but women and children against them, regained their courage, and ere
all the inmates- could escape, entered the building

'Three or four torches, which were, or precisely resembled engine
torches, were then brought up from the road 5 and immediately upon
their arrival the rioters proceeded into every room in the building,
rifling every drawer, desk, and trunk which they found, and breaking
up and destroying all the furniture, and casting much of it from the
windows ; sacrificing in their brutal fury costly pianofortes, and harps,
and other valuable instruments, the little treasures of the children
abandoned in the hasty flight, and even the vessels and symbols of
Christian worship.

' After having thus ransacked every room in the building, they
proceeded, with great deliberation, about one o'clock, to make prepa-
rations for setting fire to it. For this purpose, broken furniture,
books, curtains, and other combustible materials, were placed in the
centre of several of the rooms ; and, as if in mockery of God as well
as of man, the Bible icas cast, with shouts of exultation, upon the pile

A GRATEFUL RUFFIAN. 411

first kindled; and as upon this were subsequently thrown the vestments
used in religious service, and the ornaments of the altar, those shouty and
yells were repeated. Nor did they cease until the cross was wrenched
from its place, as the final triumph of this fiendish enterprise.'

But the work of destruction did not end here ; for after
burning down the bishop's lodge, in which there was a
valuable library, the rioters proceeded to the farm-house,
and gave it also to the flames, and then reduced an exten-
sive barn to ashes. ' And not content with all this/ say the
Committee of Protestant gentlemen, ' they burst open the
tomb of the establishment, rifled it of the sacred vessels
there deposited, wrested the plates from the coffins, and
exposed to view the mouldering remains of their tenants ! '

'Nor,' say they, 'is it the least humiliating feature in this scene of
cowardly and audacious violation of all that man ought to hold sacred
and dear, that it was perpetrated in the presence of men -vested with
authority, and of multitudes of our fellow-citizens, while not one arm
was lifted in defence of helpless women and children, or in vindication
of the violated laws of God and man. The spirit of violence, sacrilege,
and plunder reigned triumphant. Crime alone seemed to confer cour-
age, while humanity, manhood, and patriotism quailed, or stood irreso-
lute and confounded in its presence.'

The report, able and searching, thus stingingly con-
cludes : ' And if this cruel and unprovoked injury, perpe-
trated in the heart of the commonwealth, be permitted to
pass unrepaired, our boasted toleration and love of order,
our vaunted obedience to law, and our ostentatious prof-
fers of an asylum to the persecuted of all sects and nations,
may well be accounted vainglorious pretensions, or yet
more wretched hypocrisy.'

There were trials, no doubt ; but, save in one instance,
they ended in the acquittal of the accused, of whom the
leader was a ferocious savage, who thus addressed his
s}Tnpathising friends through the public press :

A CARD. — John R. Buzzell begs leave, through your pSper, to
. tender his sincere thanks to the citizens of Charlestown. Boston,

412 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and Cambridge, for the expressions of kindness and philanthropy
manii'ested towards him on bis acquittal of the charge of aiding in
the destruction of the convent ; also would gratefully remember the
gentlemanly deportment of Mr. Watson, while imprisoned in Cam-
bridge Gaol.

The reader may be pardoned for not knowing whether
it was the individual complimented for his gentlemanly
deportment, or the author of this card — this ludicrous and
shameful commentary on the whole proceedings — that
was imprisoned. We must assume that Mr. John R.
Buzzell, the gallant leader in the outrage on women and
children, was the unwilling tenant of the jail of which
Mr. Watson was the custodian of gentlemanly deportment.
Before ' this wretched man Buzzell died, he admitted, what
his jury would not, that he was one of the perpetrators of
the outrage. And from the day that Mr. Buzzell returned
his thanks for the ' kindness and philanthropy ' of those
who stamped, and yelled, and clapped their hands at his
acquittal, and for Mr. Watson's 'gentlemanly deportment'
to him while in jail, that atrocious violation of the laws of
God and man is, we shall not say unavenged, but yet
unredressed ; to this hour, and as it were within the very
shadow of the proud record of Boston's glory, lie the
blackened evidences of Boston's shame.

Bigotry is the most contagious of all diseases of the
human mind, nor is there any moral epidemic whose
poison travels more swiftly, or affects more readily or
more fatally the sobriety of communities. From Charles-
town, Massachusetts, to Charleston, South Carolina, the
malignant influence was borne ; but had the John R.
Buzzells of the latter city attempted to carry their inten-
tions into execution, they would have experienced some-
thing less pleasant than 'kindness and philanthropy' and
' gentlemanly deportment ; ' for at the first hint of danger,
a gallant band of Irishmen rallied in defence of the men-
aced convent of Charleston, and its Irish Bishop coolly

'AWFUL DISCLOSURES OF MARIA MONK.7 413

examined the flints of their rifles, to satisfy himself that
there should be no missing fire — no failure of summary
justice. The John K. Buzzells are brave against women ;
but they care less to see a man's eye gleaming along a
musket-barrel, if the ominous-looking tube be pointed at
their precious persons. So in South Carolina and in other
States, the resolute attitude of those who would have
willingly died in defence* of the best and noblest of
humanity, saved the country at that time from still
deeper disgrace.

Shortly after the destruction of the Charlestown Convent
by fire, there was perpetrated perhaps the most daring as
well as the most infamous swindle upon public credulity
ever recorded in the history of fraud ; namely, the ' Awful
Disclosures of Maria Monk ' — the result of a foul con-
spiracy, of which a dissolute preacher and "his miserable
tool were among the chief actors. Although that ' damn-
able invention ' was exposed in all its naked vileness ;
though Maria Monk's mother made solemn oath that the
abandoned preacher, her daughter's paramour, had, with
another of the conspirators, unavailingly endeavoured to
bribe her to support the imposture ; though the sect to
which the preacher belonged, and whom he had cheated
in some money transactions, flung him off with public
expressions of loathing ; though the conspirators after-
wards wrangled about their infamous spoils, and more than
one of them admitted the falsehood of the whole story ;
though, in fact, it was proved that the Awful Disclosures
were a verbal copy of a Spanish or Portuguese work which
had been translated half a century before ;* though the

* The Boston Pilot thus exposed the daring imposture : —

'We arc ready and willing to declare upon oath, that the extracts which we
have seen in the New York Transcript, Boston Morning Post, Salem Gazette, and
other respectable periodicals, purporting to be extracts from the disclosures of

414 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

monstrous lie was disproved in every form and manner in
wjiich a lie could be disproved — still the influence of that
lie is felt to this very hour, not only in Canada and in the
States, but in Europe. While in Canada, in the autumn
of 1866, I read, to my profound astonishment, even more
than to my disgust, an article in a Canadian paper said to
have influence with a certain class, written in reference to
education in convents, and in* which article the literary
lunatic described those institutions as 'sinks of iniquity.'
I might have supposed — did I not know that Maria Monk
died in the Tombs, of New York, to which prison she had
been committed for theft — that the conspiracy was still in
full swing, and that the writer — to judge him in the most
charitable manner — was one of its besotted dupes. We
shall hereafter see how this atrocious book, sworn to by
the unscrupulous and believed in by the prejudiced, has
poisoned the minds of a generous but credulous people.

We may dismiss this revolting case with a few lines from
the statement of Colonel Stone, of New York, who, in
company with some half dozen other persons, all of them
Protestants, visited and inspected the Hotel Dieu, of Mon-
treal, the scene of the alleged iniquities, which included
child massacre scarcely less wholesale than Herod's slaugh-
ter of the innocents. It may be remarked that several
parties, many of whom were not without faith in the 'Awful
Disclosures,' returned from their investigation with the same
conviction as that expressed by Colonel Stone, who says : —

I have rarely seen so many ladies together possessing in so great a
degree the charm of mannner. They were all affability and kindness.

Maria Monk, &c , are to be found, word for word, and letter for letter (proper names
only being altered), in a book translated from the Spanish or Portuguese language,
in 1781, called " The Gates of Hell Opened, or a Development of the Secrets of Nunneries,"
and that we, at present, are the owner of a copy of the said book, which was loaned
by us, a year or two since, to some person in Marblehead or Salem, who has not
returned it.

The excommunication from Tristram Shandy, palmed off on the American ptiblio
as the genuine Roman article, was something in the same spirit— just as ingenious
as a fraud upon public credulity.

PROTESTANT VERDICT ON MARIA MONK. 415

Cheerfulness was universal, and very unlike the notions commonly
entertained of the gloom of the cloister. Their faces were too often
wreathed in smiles to allow us to suppose that they were soon to
assist in smothering their own children, or that those sweet spirits
were soon to be trodden out of their bodies by the rough-shod priests

of the Seminary Indeed I have never witnessed in any

community or family, more unaffected cheerfulness and good humour,
nor more satisfactory evidence of entire confidence, esteem, and har-
mony among each other.

Having tested every wall in the building, examined every
receptacle for potatoes and turnips, every dungeon de-
voted to the incarceration of soap and candles or loaf sugar,
poked at mortar with an iron-shod stick, peeped into
every corner and crevice of- the whole establishment, and
elaborately traced his progress and its results, the Colonel
thus pronounces the judgment of an intelligent and ra-
tional mind : —

Thus ended this examination, in which we were most actively en-
gaged for about three hours. The result is the most thorough con-
viction that Maria Monk is an arrant impostor — that she never was -a
nun, and was never within the walls of the Hotel Dieu — and consequently,
that her disclosures are wholly and unequivocally, from beginning to end,
untrue — either the vagaries of a distempered brain, or a series of calum-
nies unequalled in the depravity of their invention, and unsurpassed in
their enormity. There are those, I am well aware, who will not adopt
this conclusion, though one should arise from the dead and attest it —
even though ' Noah, Daniel, and Job.' were to speak from the slumber
of ages and confirm it.

416 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Bishop England's Devotion to the Negro— The Frenchman Van-
quished—The Bishop stripped to his Shirt — Bishop England's
Death— Spiritual Destitution — As late as 1847— The Sign of the
Cross — Keeping the Faith — Bishop Hughes — Bishop Hughes
and the School Question— A Lesson for the Politicians — The
Riots of Philadelphia— The Native American Party— The Bishop
and the Mayor — Progress of the Church.

TT7~E may return to Bishop England, ere, worn out —
yy spent by fatigue and malady — he is snatched from
the faithful that loved him. as their father, and from the
Church which honoured him as one of her stoutest cham-
pions and strongest pillars.

Notwithstanding the difficulties of his position, arising
in no small degree from the infidel spirit displayed by
some unworthy members of his flock, whose vanity and
self-sufficiency rendered them impatient of all control,
Bishop England prosecuted his mission with characteristic
energy. Nor were the three States which constituted his
enormous diocese wide enough for the greatness of his zeal.
He was to be heard of in most parts of the Union, preach-
ing, lecturing, propagating truth, confounding error; and
wherever he went he was surrounded by the leading mem-
bers of other churches, or those who were of no church, who
constitute a rather numerous body in America. He also
made frequent visits to Europe ; and it is told of him
with truth that from a chamber in the Vatican this ' Steam
Bishop,' as he was styled in Rome, would announce the
day when he was to administer confirmation in the interior
of Georgia ! This Catholic Bishop found time amidst his

BISHOP ENGLAND'S DEVOTION TO THE NEGRO. 417

pressing avocations, to promote the spread of literary and
scientific knowledge in the City of Charleston ; and as a
minister of peace he fulfilled his vocation by the formation
of an anti-duelling association, of which General Thomas
Pinckney, of revolutionary fame, was the president. As a
lecturer, few, if any, equalled Bishop England, and in the
pulpit he had 110 rival in his day in the United States ;
but it was when the Yellow Fever made havoc among his
flock — black as well as white — that the Christian Bishop
was seen in all his glory. It was as he hurried from sick
bed to sick bed, his charity glowing with an ardour more
intense than the sun that seemed to rain down fire on his
head, while it scorched the ground beneath his badly-
protected feet, that those who were not of his communion
thoroughly understood the man. "When the poor negro
was in health, the Bishop would turn from the wealthy
and the learned to instruct him in the truths of religion ;
and when stricken down by the plague, of which the Black
Vomit was the fatal symptom, his first care was for the
dying slave. Bishop England did not venture to oppose
slavery — few men would have been rash enough even to
have hinted at such a policy in his day ; but he ever
proved himself the truest friend of that unhappy class,
and did much to mitigate the hardship of their position.
His, indeed, was the policy of his Church in America.*

In the diary from which I have quoted, the Bishop
more than once makes an entry of this kind : ' Was
invited to preach before the Legislature. Preached to
a numerous and attentive audience.' Not a word to
afford an idea of the effect produced by his discourse.
But we have in the brief memoir written by his devoted
friend and admirer, William George Kead, an account of
one of these discourses and its effect : —

An illiberal majority was once organised, in the Lower House of
the Legislature of South Carolina, to refuse a charter of incorporation

* See note at the end of the volume.

418 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to a community of nuns, whose invaluable services he was desirous to
secure for the education of the female portion of his flock at Charles-
ton. They were a branch of that same admirable Ursuline Order
whose convent had been pillaged and burned, with such unmanly
cruelty, in one of our eastern cities. Some of his friends procured
him an invitation to preach before the Senate, and many of the
members of the Lower House attended through curiosity. He spoke
of religion, its claims, its obligations. He discoursed of toleration.
He held up Massachusetts to their scorn. He adverted to the subject
of his charter — hurled defiance at them — showed them how he could
possess the entire State, for ecclesiastical purposes, had he the means
to buy it, despite their narrow-souled policy. He exposed to them the
folly of driving those of his communion from the high road of legalised
establishments, into the bye-paths of the law. He changed his theme,
and told of Catholic charity ; arrayed before them her countless insti-
tutions for promoting the glory God and the welfare of man. There
was not a dry eye in the house ; his bill was passed without a division
on the following day.

It was strange that, although Bishop England's speaking
voice was rich and tuneful, equal to the expression of
every emotion, he had no faculty whatever for vocal har-
mony, and lacked the power of turning the simplest air,
or singing the least difficult bar of music. His efforts at
singing High Mass were pitiable ; and, were it not for the
solemnity of the occasion, his performance would be more
calculated to excite merriment than to inspire devotion.
When first appointed to the parish of Bandon, an attempt
was made by an excellent and pious man to try and
'hammer' as much music into the new Parish Priest as
would enable him to get through his "functions as High
Priest with some approach to decency ; but, though Father
England's Bandon instructor was animated by a profound
reverence for the dignity of Catholic worship, he failed —
miserably failed — in the hopeless attempt. But what all
the pious enthusiasm of the honest Bandonian could not
accomplish for the ungifted Parish Priest, the vanity of a
Frenchman made him believe he could succeed in achieving
for the great Bishop of Charleston. The Frenchman
felt confident he could make the Bishop sing ; the Bishop
was certain, and with better reason, that he could not be

THE FRENCHMAN VANQUISHED. 419

made to sing. The Professor was positive in his belief,
and demanded the opportunity of testing his powers, which
opportunity was freely afforded to him by the Bishop ; and
to work they went, the Professor elated with the antici-
pation of his glorious triumph, the Bishop thoroughly
reconciled to his vocal incapacity. They commenced, the
teacher all zeal, the pupil all docility. ' Bravi, bravi ! '
cried the Professor, as the first note or two rewarded a
long and laborious lesson. The world would hear of this
splendid achievement ; all America would do homage to
science in the person of the Professor. The lessons and
the practice proceeded ; but as they did, so did the Pro-
fessor's confidence abate. Had the task been simply im-
possible, it was his duty, as a Frenchman, to accomplish it ;
but this was something more than impossible. Still the
gallant son of Gaul bravely struggled on, hoping against
hope — rather, hoping against despair. At length, even
the courage of his nation gave way ; and thus the crest-
fallen Professor addressed his doomed but smiling pupil —
'Ah, monseigneur ! vous prechez comme un ange, et vous
dcrivez comme un ange; mais vous chantez diablement !

There is a capital story told of the Bishop doing duty
for a Protestant pastor ; and it is so characteristic of the
liberal side of American Christianity, that it may be given
in the words of Dr. England's enthusiastic admirer, Mr.
Head:—

During one of his visitations he had been obliged with the loan of
a Protestant church, for the purpose of delivering a course of lectures
on the Catholic religion. On Saturday evening the regular pastor
came to him to 'ask a favour.' 'I am sure,' said the Bishop, 'you
would not ask what I would not gladly grant.' 'Occupy my pulpit,
then, to-morrow ! I have been so much engrossed by your lectures
through the week, that I have utterly forgotten my own pastoral
charge, and am unprepared with a sermon.' ' I should be most happy
to oblige you, but are you aware that we can have no partnerships?'
• I have thought of all that — regulate everything as you think proper.'
' At least,' said the Bishop, ' 1 can promise you that nothing shall be
Baicl or done which you or any of your congregation will disapprove.'

•120 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

On the morrow the novel spectacle was seen of a Catholic Bishop,
arrayed in his ordinary episcopal vesture, advancing to the pnlpit of
this Protestant congregation. He invited them to sing some hymns
he had previously selected from those they were accustomed to ; read
to them from the Douay translation of the Bible ; recited appropriate
pra-yers, such as all could freely join in, from a book of Catholic
devotion ; preached them a sound practical discourse, and dismissed
them with a blessing ; wondering if such could be the doctrine and
the worship they had so often heard denounced as 'the doctrine of
devils.'

It was the custom of the Bishop to wear his ordinary
episcopal robes — soutane, rotchet, and short purple cape
— whenever he was preaching, whether in a public court-
house or a Protestant church. Many of these latter build-
ings being in his time rather primitive structures, and
affording little accommodation for robing, he was frequently
compelled to perform his ecclesiastical toilet behind the
pulpit. This happened on one occasion, when his fame
was at its height, and people of every creed, as well as
class and condition, rushed to hear the famous preacher.
One of the robes worn by a bishop, the rotchet, is a kind
of surplice, usually made of muslin or fine linen, and
trimmed with lace. Dr. England remained some time
hidden from the view of the audience, probably engaged
in prayer; and the expectation was somewhat increased
in consequence. At length, one, more impatient "or more
curious than the rest, ventured on a peep, and saw the
Bishop in his rotchet, and before he had time to put on
his cape; and, rather forgetting the character of the
place, and the nature of the occasion, he cried out in a
voice that rang throughout the building — ' Boys ! the
Bishop's stripped to his shirt ! — he's in earnest, I tell you ;
and darn me, if he ain't going to give us hell this time.'
The Bishop, who, Irishman like, dearly loved a joke, and
who frequently told the story, ever with unabated relish,
mounted the steps of the pulpit, and Jooked upon his
audience as calmly and with as grave a countenance as if
these strange words had never reached his ears.

BISHOP ENGLAND'S DEATH. 421

Too soon, alas ! was the life of the great Bishop to come
to a close. Returning from Europe in a ship amongst
whose steerage passengers malignant dystentery broke out,
this noble Christian minister laboured incessantly in the
service of the sick* He was at once priest, doctor, and
nurse, and during the voyage he scarcely ever slept in his
cabin ; an occasional doze on a sofa was all that his zeal
and humanity would allow him to enjoy. Exhausted in
mind and body, and with the seeds of the fatal disease in
his constitution, Dr. England landed in Philadelphia ; but
instead of betaking himself to his bed, and placing him-
self under the care of a physician, he preached, and lec-
tured, and transacted an amount of business suited only
to the most robust health. In Baltimore he stayed four
days, and preached five times.

' When he arrived here/ says Mr. Read. ' his throat was raw with
continued exertion. I discovered the insidious disease that was sapping
his strength. I saw his constitution breaking up. He was warned,
with the solicitude of the tenderest atFection, against continuing these
destructive efforts. The weather was dreadful. But he felt it his
duty to go on. He said only, "I hope I shall not drop at the altar —
if I do, bring me home.'7 He wished to do the work he was sent to
perform. Exhausted by fatigue, overwhelmed with visitors, he waa
yet ready at the last moment to give an audience to a stranger who
bogged admission for the solution of a single doubt; and never did I
listen to so precise, so clear, so convincing an exposition of the trans-
substantiated presence of our Redeemer in the Holy Eucharist. His
auditor was a person of intelligence and candour, and the Bishop ex-
hausted, for his instruction, the resources of philosophical objection to
the sacred tenet ; to show how futile are the cavils of man in opposition
to the explicit declaration of God.'

His death was worthy of his life. Nothing could be
more in keeping with the character of the Christian Bishop.
The dying words of this great Prelate of the American
Church, addressed to his clergy, who were kneeling round
his bed, were noble and impressive, full of paternal solici-
tude for his flock, and the most complete resignation to
the will of his Divine Master. He humbly solicited the

422 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

forgiveness of his clergy, for whatever might at the time
have seemed harsh or oppressive in his conduct ; but he
truly declared, that he had acted from a sense of duty, and
in the manner best adapted to the end he had in view —
'their good. 'I confess,' said the dying Prelate, 'it has
likewise happened, owing partly to the perplexities of my
position, and chiefly to my own impetuosity, that my
demeanour has not always been as meek and courteous as
it ever should have been ; and that you have experienced
rebuffs, when you might have anticipated kindness. For-
give me! Tell my people that I love them — tell them
how much I regret that circumstances have kept us at a
distance from each other. My duties and my difficulties
have prevented me from cultivating and strengthening
those private ties which ought to bind us together ; your
functions require a closer and more constant intercourse
with them. Be with them — be of them — win them to
God. Guide, govern, and instruct them, that you may do
it with joy, and not with grief.' In this his last address
he did not forget his infant institutions, which were never
so dear to his paternal heart as at that moment, when he
appealed to his weeping clergy in their behalf ; and to the
Sisters, who afterwards knelt by his bedside, he bequeathed
lessons of wisdom and courage. Almost his last words
were, < I had hoped to rise — but I bow to the will of God,
and accept what He appoints.' *

By his grave stood the representatives of every sect and
communion, offering their last tribute of respect to one
who did honour to his native land in the country of his
adoption. The press of the United States joined in one
universal chorus of sorrow for his loss, and admiration of
his exalted merits as a scholar and orator, as a Christian
minister, a patriot, and a citizen ; for had he been born
on her soil, he could not more thoroughly have identified

* The present amiable and accomplished Bishop of Charleston was one of the
priests who knelt at the betfside of the great Bishop, and preserved a faithful record
of his noble words. Dr. Lynch is the son of Irish parents

SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION. 423

himself with the glory and greatness of America than
he did.

Even in 1842, when he was lost to the Church, his flock
— scattered over three vast States — did not exceed 8,000
souls ; but by his matchless zeal and singular power of
organisation, and his firmness in dealing with the turbulent
and refractory, he succeeded in establishing order in the
mist of chaos ; and, by his own living example of every
virtue which could adorn humanity, even more than
by his intellectual power, did the illustrious Bishop
England render the name of Catholic respected.

When in 1832 the first Council of Baltimore assembled,
the Catholics of the United States numbered not less
than half a million. In 1830, according to Bishop Dubois,
the Catholic population of the diocese of New York was
150,000, of whom 35,000 were in the city of that name.
In 1834 the number in the latter must have been at least
50,000, and in the diocese 200,000, as emigration was
steadily setting in ; and though the emigration of that
day was generally diffused through the country, still the
greater portion of this life-current was even then directed
to the Empire City. There were at that time — in 1834 —
in the entire of the State of New York and the portion of
New Jersey combined with it in the diocese, but nineteen
churches, not a few of which were utterly unworthy of that
distinction — being miserable wooden shanties, hastily run
up by poor congregations ; and the number of priests for
this enormous territory, which is now divided into five
dioceses, did not exceed five-and-twenty ! Too many of
the scattered congregations of this vast diocese had not for
years seen the face of a priest, or heard the saving truths
of religion from a minister of their own faith ; and the
young people grew up to manhood and womanhood with
only such imperfect knowledge of sacred subjects as the
scanty information of simple parents could afford them.

424 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

One may easily imagine how difficult it was, under those
circumstances, for the Irish .Catholic to preserve the faith.
The Irish Protestant, no matter of what sect or denomina-
tion, found a church arid a congregation wherever he went,
and with him there was neither inducement nor necessity
to change. Indeed, the position held then, and for long
after, by the Catholics in America, did not offer any special
attraction to those of other communions to join their
ranks ; and while all sects of Protestantism enjoyed com-
paratively ample means and opportunities for public wor-
ship, the Catholic lacked them altogether in too many
instances. Save in cities and towns, and not always in
these either, the Catholic had no church, no priest, no
instruction, no spiritual consolation — nothing, in fact, to
depend on for the preservation of the faith, until the
coming of the better days for which he ardently longed,
but the grace of God and his own steadfastness.

Albany, and Buffalo, and , Brooklyn, and Newark,
which are now, in a Catholic sense, cathedral cities, and
the centres of prosperous dioceses, having a complete
ecclesiastical organisation of their own, were each 'served'
by a single priest in 1834. When Bishop Dubois visited
Buffalo in 1829, he found a congregation of 800 Catholics,
about half of whom were Irish, who had been occasionally
visited by a clergyman from Rochester ; but, previous to
that arrangement, they had been for years without having
seen a minister of their Church. The first church — a
little wooden structure — erected in Buffalo was in the fall
of that year. But in 1847, when Buffalo was formed into
a diocese, the state of things discovered by Bishop Timon,
not only in his first visitation, but on subsequent occasions,
was little different from that recorded by Bishop England
of his three Southern States ; and while there were more
Catholics to be found in the towns springing up in the
State of New York, the spiritual poverty and destitution
were as marked in the North as in the South. Bishop
Timon had fifteen priests to assist him, and sixteen

AS LATE AS 1847. 425

churches ; but we are told, on the Bishop's authority, that
most of them ' might rather be called huts or shanties ; '
and when there was a church, of whatever kind, there was
scarcely a sacred vessel for the use of the altar, and the
vestments were ' few and poor.'

There is the strong Catholic likeness in all the Bishops
of the American Church — the same energy, the same
zeal, the same self-sacrifice, the same disregard of toil or
labour ; and Bishop Timon's visitation in 1847, or in years
after, might be fitly described in the very words employ-
ed by Dr. England in 1821. He preached in Protestant
churches, when they were offered, or the Catholics could
obtain ' the loan of them/ or in court-houses, or in school-
houses ; or, when he had none of these at his disposal, in
the open air. In his first visitation Bishop Tirnon con-
firmed 4,617 of his flock, half of whom were adults — a fact
significant of previous spiritual destitution. It is not to
be supposed that this state of things is limited to a
period so remote as twenty years — it was the same in
many of the States so late as a few years back ; and even
to this day there are Catholic families in America who have
rarely entered a church or heard the voice of a priest.

There was never, at any time, on the part of the Irish
Catholic, a lack of zeal for religion, or an indifference as
to procuring a place for the worship to which, from his
infancy, he had been accustomed in his own country.
Indeed, one of the inducements which the Irish had to
remain in the great cities, instead of pushing on to take
possession of the land, was the facility afforded, through
their churches and their staff of clergymen, for practising
their religion, and of training their children in the know-
ledge of its principles. Still, better for thousands had
they penetrated the remote forest, and there, in the depths
of their own hearts, kept alive the love of the faith, and
thus lived on in expectation of happier days, than have
yielded to a feeling which was commendable rather than

426 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

blamable. It is true, the children of mixed marriages —
especially when the mother was a member of some Pro-
testant body, and where the Catholics were few and thinly
scattered amongst persons of other sects — did occasionally
adopt the religious belief of their relatives and friends ;
but in the vast majority of cases the faith was cherished,
and kept strong and ardent amidst the gravest discourage-
ments. When the mother was a Catholic, there was little
fear for the children ; though there have been innumerable
instances of fathers resisting the influence of their Baptist
or Methodist wives, and bringing up their children in their
own faith.

There is not a priest of any experience in the American
mission that has not met with the most interesting proofs
of the holy flame burning in the hearts of Irish Catholics
far removed from a church. The delight of these good
people at a visit from one of their own clergymen — the
Sorgarth aroon — is indescribable. A friend, who now
holds an eminent position in the ministry, told me how he
was affected by the feeling exhibited by an Irish woman
whom he visited, as much by chance as design, in the
course of a missionary tour whose extent might be counted
by hundreds of miles. He came to a house in the midst
of the woods, but surrounded with every appearance of
substantial comfort ; and on entering through the open
doorway he found a number of young people in the prin-
cipal apartment. He was welcomed, but coldly, by the
elder girl, who told him that 'mother' was somewhere
about the place with the boys. The clergyman asked some
questions, which at first were replied to with evident re-
straint ; but when he said he was a Catholic priest — and
an Irish priest, too — there was an end to coldness and
reserve. The girl had taken him for a preacher, of one
of the many sects to be found in every part of America,
and her courtesy was rather scant in consequence. ' Oh,
Father, don't go ! — I'll run and fetch mother ! ' cried the

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. ' 427

girl, as she ran out to impart the joyful tidings to her
parent ; the priest in the meantime establishing friendly
relations with the younger children. Soon were hurried
steps heard approaching the house, and one voice, half
choked with emotion, saying : ' Mary, Mary, darling, are
you serious? — is it the priest? — is it really the priest?'
answered by that of the daughter with : ' Yes, mother
dear, it is the priest, sure enough.' In rushed a woman
of middle age, her arms outstretched, and her face flushed
with strong excitement. Falling on her knees on the
floor, she exclaimed, with an accent of passionate suppli-
cation, that thrilled the priest to his heart — ' Oh, Father !
for the sake of God and his Blessed Mother, mark me with
the sign of the Cross!' Her face, though merely comely
at best, was positively beautiful in its expression as her
pious request was complied with. The example was con-
tagious. The entire family were at once on their knees,
and ' Me, Father ! — don't forget me, Father ! — Father, don't
forget me,' from the youngest, showed how the mother's
spirit pervaded her children. It was some hours before
the good woman's excitement subsided ; and as she busied
herself to do fitting honour to her guest — whom she assured
she would rather see* in her house than the King on his
throne, or the President himself — she constantly broke off
into pious ejaculations, full of praise and thanks. The
priest remained long enough under her hospitable roof to
celebrate Mass, which to her was a source of joy unspeak-
able, as she looked upon her dwelling as sacred from
that moment ; and to strengthen by his instruction the
strong impression already made upon the minds of her
children by their pious mother. This good woman's hus-
band had been carried off by malignant fever, leaving to
her care a large and helpless family ; but, as she said,
' God gave her strength to struggle on for them,' and she
did so, bravely and successfully, until the eldest were able
to help her, and abundance and comfort were in her

428 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

dwelling. For many years she had not seen the face of a
priest, or entered the door of a church ; but the faith was
strong in her Irish heart, and every morning the labours
of the day were blessed by the prayefrs of the family, who
repeated them as regularly before they retired to their un-
troubled rest ; and on Sundays the prayers of Mass were
read, and the litanies were recited. Thus was the faith
kept in the midst of the forest, until the time came when
the church was erected, and the congregation knelt beneath
its sacred roof, and the voice of praise blended with the
swelling peal of the organ, and the exiles really felt them-
selves ' at home ' at last.

When visiting the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in
Cincinnati, I was made aware of a remarkable instance of
how the faith was kept by the Irish in the days when, from
want of priests and churches, the spiritual destitution of
Catholics was extreme. In a ward of this splendid hospi-
tal, the munificent gift of two Protestant gentlemen to an
Irish Sister,* a young priest was hurrying fast to the close
of his mortal career. He had been a chaplain in the
Federal service, in which, as in the ordinary sphere of
his ministry, he was much beloved, on account of his great
zeal and devotedness ; but consumption, the result in a
great measure of hardship and exposure, set in, and the
termination of a lingering sickness was at hand. His
father and mother — the father from Tipperary, the mother
from ' the Cove of Cork ' — settled amidst the woods of
Ohio, about twenty miles from Cincinnati, and not a family
within many miles of their home. About that time there
were not more than a dozen priests in Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Missouri, and but two brick churches in Ohio.
This was the state of things when Bishop, now Archbishop,
Purcell was consecrated. Little spiritual provision then
for the Irish family in the woods. But the faith was
strong in the hearts of the Irish parents, and they deter-
mined that their children should not be without its know-

* See page 481.

KEEPING THE FAITH. 429

ledge. Every Sunday the father read the prayers of Mass,
and then gave an hour or an hour-and-a-half's catechetical
instruction to his young flock. Every night the younger
children, each in their turn, recited the accustomed
prayers ; and with the aid of good Catholic books, and a
couple of the best of the Catholic newspapers, the right
spirit was maintained. The father, who was then in inde-
pendent circumstances, and is now the owner of 700 acres
of land, used to send, four times a year, a * buggy ' for a
priest, who celebrated Mass in the house, and explained, in
a better manner than the father could have done, the
principles of the Catholic religion. The family grew up a
credit to their Irish father, himself a credit to his country.
One of the sons, thus taught amidst the solitude of the
woods, was then closing a noble career of priestly useful-
ness, and others were exhibiting the influence of their
training in various walks of life. The sound Catholic
teaching at home counteracted whatever might have been
prejudicial in the district school, to which, at a suitable
period, the young people were sent. I had the satisfaction
of seeing this fine old Tipperary man, who, at seventy
years of age, had the appearance of one much younger.
It was men of his stamp, I felt, that did most honour, in
America, to their native land.

Bishop England often mentioned his visit to a family
whom he found in the midst of ttie woods, and who had
not seen a priest for forty years! But the faith had been
preserved through the piety of the parents. The Bishop
described this wonderful fidelity as a miracle of grace.

From the foregoing we learn how the faith has been kept :
in the following we have an instance of what a humble
man may do for its advancement.

In a rising town of one of the Northern States an Irish
priest, actuated by religious zeal, ' attempted to build a
church for the accommodation of his flock, which at that
time was small in number and feeble in resources. The

430 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

task was beyond his and their means, and the work, but
partially accomplished, was necessarily suspended. A
poor Irishman was passing through the town, on his way
to the "West, when, attracted by the appearance of the
unfinished building, he enquired what it was intended for,
and why it was allowed to remain in that incomplete state.
The reply, while it afforded the desired explanation, was
mocking and derisive. ' That building ! Oh, it was the
Papists — them Irish Papists — that tried to get it up ; it
was too much for them ; they couldn't do it, nohow. It
does look ridiculous — don't it, stranger ? ' 'It does look
mighty quare, sure enough,' was the quiet rejoinder of the
poor working man, who added, as he first looked at his
informant, who had passed on, and then at the incomplete
structure ; ' but, 'pon my faith, I'll not lave this place
'till it's finished, and I hear Mass said in it, too.' He
remained to labour ; and being a sober and thrifty man,
his labour throve with him. As other emigrants passed
through the town, also on their way to the West, he
induced several of them to remain, and to these he soon
imparted his own spirit. A more vigorous effort was
made, and made successfully, mainly owing to this one
humble man, who ere long heard Mass in the temple he
so effectually helped to raise ; and before many years had
passed, there were convents and schools, in which his child-
ren, and the children erf others once as poor as himself,
imbibed a thorough knowledge of their religion, and
caught the spirit of their fathers. To behold the cross on
that church was the object of his ardent desire. He did
behold it, and so have many thousands, who worshipped
beneath the roof which it adorns.

When, in consequence of the increasing age and in-
firmities of the sainted* Bishop Dubois, one of those holy
men whom France had given to the American Church,
Dr. Hughes, recently one of the most popular and in-

BISHOP HUGHES. 431

fluential of the working clergy of Philadelphia, assumed,
as coadjutor Bishop, the practical administration of the
diocese of New York, the state of things was not very
hopeful. For this diocese, of 55,000 square miles in ex-
tent, there were then but twenty churches and forty
priests ; with lay trusteeship rampant in its insolence,
and disastrous in its mismanagement ; the fruits of which
were to be witnessed in the condition of the city churches,
all of which were in debt, and half at least in a state of
bankruptcy, The venerable Bishop Dubois was past the
age of dealing successfully with the increasing difficulties
of the position. But the man who had been providentially
selected for, if not the most important, certainly the most
responsible diocese in the United States, soon proved him-
self to be in every way equal to the emergency.

Bishop Hughes was one of those Irishmen who, loving
America, as thg asylum of their race, rapidly become
American citizens, in feeling, in spirit, and in thought.
Bold, fearless, and independent, he determined to assert
his rights of citizenship ; and no idea of inferiority to the
longest-descended descendant of those who, at one time,
were either colonists or exiles, ever crossed the mind of
that stout-hearted prelate. As a minister of God, he was
ever for peace, and by preference would never have quitted
the precincts of the sanctuary ; but there were occasions
when forbearance would have been criminal, and quiescence
or meekness would have been mere abject baseness ; and
when, for the interests of religion and the safety of his
flock, it was his first duty to come forth as a citizen. And
when these occasions occurred, his active interference was
crowned with success, and productive of the happiest
results. Bishop Hughes held the Irish of New York
in his hands and under his control, by the spell of his
eloquence, and the genuine ring of his national convictions ;
and by their aid, and with their fullest sanction — backed
by the congregations — he crushed the baneful abuses of

432 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the system of trusteeship, and terminated a struggle which
had been long a source of interior weakness and external
scandal.

To such lengths had the evils of this system arisen
under the mild administration of the predecessor of Bishop
Hughes, that a committee of the trustees waited upon
Bishop Dubois, and with expressions of respect somewhat
inconsistent with the object of their mission, informed
him that they could not conscientiously vote him his
salary, unless he complied with their wishes, and gave
them such clergymen as were acceptable to them ! Thfe
reply given to this cool insolence was characteristic of
the holy man. 'Well, gentlemen, you may vote the
salary or not, just as seems good to you. I do not need
much — I can live in the basement, or in the garret ; but
whether I come up from the basement, or down from the
garret, I will still be your bishop.' «

Bishop Hughes did not destroy the system of lay trustee-
ship ; he purged it of its vicious abuses and defects, such
as were opposed. to the principles of the Church. There
was much in it that was useful, if not absolutely necessary,
in the circumstances of the country; but it was essential
that it should be regulated according to Catholic princi-
ples, and be placed under proper ecclesiastical control.
Bishop Bayley, a thoroughly competent authority, thus
refers to the services rendered to the Church by Dr.
Hughes, whose courage and determination put an end to
the scandal, at least in the city of New York : —

Those only who have carefully studied the history of the Church
can form any idea of the amount of undeveloped evil that lay hid
within that system of uncontrolled lay-administration of ecclesiastical
property, and which partially exhibited itself at Charleston, South
Carolina, at Richmond, Virginia, in Philadelphia, and more slightly,
but still bad enough, here in New York. The whole future of the
Church in this country would have been paralysed, if it had been
allowed fully to establish itself: and. to my mind, the most important
act of Bishop Hughes' life— the one most beneficial to religion— was

BISHOP HUGHES AND THE SCHOOL QUESTION. 433

his thus bringing the whole Catholic community to correct ideas and
right principles on this subject.'*

Each year strengthened the influence of Bishop Hughes
over his flock ; and on two remarkable occasions this in-
fluence was usefully exerted, — the first, in extinguishing
a pestilent danger to faith and morals ; the second, in
protecting the peace of the city by the firmness of the
Catholic attitude.

For nearly two years the School Question, fiercely
agitated in New York, attracted the attention of the
country at large. The system of education against which
the Catholics protested was more than insidiously danger-
ous— it was actively aggressive ; and not merely were the
book replete with sneer and libel against that church
which all sects usually delight in assailing, but the teachers,
by their explanations, imparted new force "to the lie and
additional authority to the calumny. Respectful remon-
strances were met either with calm disregard or inso-
lent rebuff. Politicians were so confident of having the
Irish vote, no matter how they themselves acted, that they
supposed they might continue with impunity to go in the
very teeth of their supporters, and systematically resist
their just claims for redress. But Bishop Hughes read
them a salutary lesson, the moral of which it was difficult
to forget. With matchless ability he fought the Catholic
side in the Municipal Council against all comers, represent-
ing every hostile interest ; and when justice was denied
there and in the Legislature, he resorted to a course of
policy which greatly disturbed the minds of the timid, and
the sticklers for peace at any price, but which was followed
by instantaneous success. Holding his flock well in hand,
addressing them constantly in language that, while it con-

* Discourse on the Life and Character of the Most Rev. Archbishop Hughes,
delivered in St. Bridget's Church, New York, Feb. 1864, by the Right Rev. James
Roosevelt Baytey, D. D., Bishop of Newark. The substance of this Discoui se is given
as the Introduction to the Second Volume of the Complete Works of Archbishop
Hughes, published 1>\ Lawrence Kehoe, New York.

19

434 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

vinced their judgment, roused their religious enthusiasm,
he advised them to disregard all political ties, and vote
only for those who were the friends of the new School sys-
tem,— which, it may be remarked, was ' Godless ' at best, —
and the opponents of the old system, which, as we have
said, was actively aggressive. The Bishop thus put the
case to his flock :

The question to be decided is not the strength of party, or the
emolument and patronage of office, but a question between the helpless

and ill-used children and the Public School Society An

issue is made up between you and a large portion of the community
on the one side, and the monopoly which instils the dangerous prin-
ciples to which I have before alluded, on the other. The question
lies between the two parties, and you are the judges ; if you desert
the cause, what can you expect from strangers? ... I have been
given to understand that three out of four candidates presented to
your suffrages are pledged to oppose your claims. They may perhaps
triumph ; but all I ask is, that they shall not triumph by the sinful
aid of any individual who cherishes a feeling in common with those
children. I wish you, therefore, to look well to your candidates ; and
if they are disposed to make Infidels or Protestants of your children,
let them receive no vote of yours.

The advice thus given to them by their Bishop was as
consistent with common sense as with decent pride. But
something more was required to be done, and that was
done. With a few exceptions, the candidates of all parties
in the field were pledged to oppose the claims of the
Catholics. An independent ticket for members of the
Senate and Assembly was therefore suggested and pro-
posed, and this was adopted at a meeting in Carroll Hall,
with an enthusiasm which was .owing even more to the
pluck than to the appeals of the Bishop. Having, by a
speech of singular power, put the whole case before his
immense audience, he worked them up to a state of ex-
traordinary excitement with the true Demosthenic art,
putting to them a series of stinging queries, touching, as it
were, the very life of their honour. ' Will you stand by

A LESSON FOR THE POLITICIANS. 435

the rights of your offspring, who have so long suffered
under the operation of this injurious system?' 'Will
you adhere to the nomination made?' 'Will you be
united ? ' ' Will none of you shrink ? ' And he thus con-
cludes : ' I ask then, once for all, will this meeting
pledge its honour, as the representative of that oppressed
portion of the community for whom I have so often
pleaded, here as elsewhere — will it pledge its honour,
that it will stand by these candidates, whose names have
been read, and that no man composing this vast audience
will ever vote for any one pledged to oppose our just
claims and incontrovertible rights ? ' * The promise, made
with a display of feeling almost amounting to frenzy, was
fully redeemed ; and 2,200 votes recorded for the candidates
nominated only four days before, convinced the politicians,
whose promises hitherto had been, as the Bishop said, as
large 'as their performances had been lean,' that there
was danger in the Catholics — that, in fact, they were no
longer to be played with or despised. Notwithstanding
the pledges to the contrary, the new system — that of the
Common Schools — was carried in the Assembly by a
majority of sixty-five to sixteen ; and the Senate, appre-
hending that a similar attempt would be made at an
approaching election for the Mayoralty as that which had
made in the elections of candidates for the Senate and the
Assembly, passed the measure. f

* Complete Works of Archbishop Hughes ; Lawrence Kehoe, New York.
Also Hassard's 'Life, of Archbishnp Hughes,' published by D. Appleton and Co.,
New York.

t Bishop Bay ley, in his 'Brief Sketch,' published by Edward Dunigan and
Brother, New York, thus refers to the practical results of that memorable
contest. The Bishop writes in 1853 :—

'Experience has since shown that the new system, though administered with
4 as much impartiality and fairness as could be expected under the circumstances,

• is one which, as excluding all religious instruction, is most fatal to the morals and
'religious principles of our children, and that our only resource is to establish
•schools of our own, where sound religious instruction shall be imparted at the

• same time with secular instruction. If we needed any evidence upon the matter
' it would be found in the conduct and behaviour of those of our children who

436 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Fiercely assailed by his opponents, bitterly denounced
by alarmed and indignant politicians, reviled in every
imaginable manner by controversialists of the pulpit and
the press, even turned upon by the faint-hearted of his own
communion — that decorous and cringing class, to whom
anything like vigour, or a departure from rigid rule, is sure
to cause a shudder of the nerves — the Bishop of New York
became, at once, one of the best-abused as well as one of
the most popular men of the day. His influence over the
Irish portion of his flock was unbounded. This flock was
rapidly increasing through emigration, which was setting
strongly in from the old country, then, for its size, one of
the most populous countries of Europe. Bishop Hughes
was just the man to acquire influence over an Irish con-
gregation. That he himself was an Irishman was, of course,
no little in his favour ; though there are, as I am per-
sonally aware, bishops and priests without a drop of Irish
blood in their veins, or at best having only some remote
connection with the country which has given so many of
her children to the American Church, who are beloved and
venerated by their Irish flocks — who are referred to in
language of the warmest affection, and pointed to with
pride, either for their moral excellence or their intel-
lectual endowments. But Bishop Hughes was eminently
qualified to gratify the pride of a people who found in
him a fearless, a powerful, and a successful champion — one
who was afraid of no man, and who was ready, at any
moment, not only to grapple with and overthrow the most
formidable opponent, but to encounter any odds, and fight
under every disadvantage. In his speeches and letters*
their reader will behold abundant evidence of his boldness
in attack, his skill in defence, and his severity in dealing

• are educated under the Christian Brothers, when contrasted with those who are
' exposed to the pernicious influences of a public school'

* The sermons, letters, lectures, and speeches of Archbishop Hughes are
published in two fine volumes by Lawrence Kehoe, Nassau-street, New York, by
whom they are also edited.

THE RIOTS OF PHILADELPHIA. 437

with an enemy, especially one to whom no quarter should
be given. When the Bishop struck, it was with no gentle
or faltering hand, nor was his weapon a lath or a blunted
sword : he struck with the strength of a giant, and the
weapon he wielded was bright and trenchant, and never
failed to pierce the armour of his closest-mailed foe. With
the ablest and most practised writers of the public press,
the most accomplished advocates of the bar, the subtlest
controversialists, Bishop Hughes had many a fair tilt in
the face of an appreciative public ; and none of those
with whom he was compelled to come into conflict, whether
with tongue or pen, speech or letter, that did not acknow-
ledge, or was not obliged to admit, the power of his mind,
the force of his reasoning, his happiness of illustration, and
his thorough mastery of the English language. It was not,
then, to be wondered at that the Irish of New York, as
indeed throughout the States, wTere proud of their great
countryman, and looked up to him with confidence and
affection. His influence over his flock was not without
being submitted to a severe test.

In 1844 the memorable riots of Philadelphia occurred.
It was the old story again. Sectarian bigotry and ignorant
prejudice appealed to by reckless firebrands and intriguing
politicians ; lies, calumnies, and misrepresentations ; old
falsehoods dug up and furbished afresh, and new false-
hoods invented for the occasion ; clamour from the press,
the platform, and the pulpit — with the grand cry 'The
Bible in danger ! — Save it from the Papists ! ' The only
possible ground of this affected alarm for the Bible was
the simple fact that the Catholics required that when their
children were compelled to read the Bible in the Public
Schools, it should be the recognised Catholic version of
the Scriptures, and not the Protestant version. But the
world knows how easy it is to get up a 017, and how it is

438 * THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

oftentimes the more effective when based on entire false-
hood. Add, then, to this dishonest cry, unreasoning hatred
of the foreigner, the bitter hostility to the foreigner's
creed, and you have the combustibles, which only required
a match and an opportunity, in order to ensure an explo-
sion. And a terrible and savage explosion of human passion
it was, scattering confusion and death through one of the
fairest cities of the Union, and casting discredit on its
boasted civilisation. There was a ' Protestant Association '
at its vicious work in those days, and among its most
active members were Irishmen, who had brought with
them across the ocean the old fierce spirit of Orangeism,
which so far blinded their reason and stifled their sense of
honour, that they were not ashamed then, as on subsequent
occasions, to join with the Native American and Know
Nothing party, in their mad crusade against the ' foreigner '
— that foreigner their own countryman ! During the riots
the Orange flag, the symbol of fraternal strife in the
old land, in which its children should leave behind them
their wicked animosities, was displayed during the shame-
ful riots of 1844.* Where there was anything like the
semblance of an organisation for defence, the Irish Catho-
lics displayed a courage worthy of their cause ; but the
means of resistance were not sufficient, nor were they taken
in time, and the result is thus described in the words of
an excellent Episcopalian clergyman, who felt, with poig-
nant shame, the dishonour cast by national prejudice and
brutal fanaticism upon his beautiful city. The author of
the ' Olive Branch ' thus sums up the wicked deeds of the
rioters : —

* 'Though the party affected to assail foreigners, yet Irish Orangemen, and
other bitter foreign enemies of Catholicity, were among its most conspicuous and
active members. A dirty Orange flag was placed on the top of the market-house
during the Kensington (Philadelphia) riots; the violent Orange air, "The Boyne
Water," was played in triumph, while the flames were consuming St. Michael's
Church ; and a notorious Orangeman was actually paraded through the streets
of Philadelphia, in the "temple of liberty," which was carried in procession on
the 4th of July.'— Note to article on 'the Philadelphia Riots and native American
Party,' by Archbishop Spalding.

THE NATIVE AMERICAN PARTY. 439

The native American party has existed for a period hardly reach-
ing five months, and in that time of its being, what has been seen?
Two Catholic churches burnt, one thrice fired and desecrated, a
Catholic seminary and retreat consumed by the torches of an incen-
diary mob, two rectories and a most valuable library destroyed, forty
dwellings in ruins, about forty human lives sacrificed, and sixty of our
fellow citizens wounded ; riot, and rebellion, and treason, rampant, on
two occasions, in our midst ; the laws set boldly at defiance, and peace
and order prostrated by ruffian violence.

From an article on 'The Philadelphia Riots and the
Native American Party,' written by Archbishop Spalding,
this extract may be quoted : —

For more than ten years previously the ' No-Popery ' cry had been
raised, from one end of the Union to the other ; from the cold and
puritanical North, to the warm and chivalrous South. The outcry
resounded from the pulpit and the press ; its notes were fierce and
sanguinary; they were worthy of the palmiest days of Titus Gates
and Lord George Gordon, both immortal for the relentless and burn-
ing hatred they bore to their Christian brethren of the Roman
Catholic Church. Can we wonder, then, that it produced similar
results? When we reflect how long that bitter outcry continued;
how talented, and influential, and untiring were many of those engaged
in raising it ; how many different forms and complexions it assumed
— now boasting of its zeal for the purity of religion, now parading its
solicitude for the preservation of our noble republican institutions
threatened with destruction by an insidious foreign influence ; when
we reflect how very unscrupulous were the men engaged in this
crusade against Catholicity, how many glaring untruths they boldly
published both from the pulpit and the press, how many base forgeries
— subsequently admitted to be such — they unblushingly perpetrated
in the full light of day, and with the intelligence of the nineteenth
century beaming in their faces ; when we reflect that all this warfare
against Catholics was openly conducted by a .well-concerted action and
a regular conspiracy among almost all the rich and powerful Protes-
tant sects of the country, with the avowed purpose of crushing a par-
ticular denomination ; and that this conspiracy was kept alive by
synodical enactments, by Protestant associations, and by the untiring
energy and relentless zeal of perhaps the richest and most powerful
sect in the country, which ever appeared as the leader of the move-
ment : — when we reflect on all these undoubted facts, can we be any
longer surprised at the fearful scenes which lately set the stigma of
everlasting disgrace on the second city of the Union?*

* Miscellanea : comprising Eeviews, Lectures, and Essays, on Historical,

440 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

A strange commentary on this fierce hostility and deadly
strife does the position of the Church in Philadelphia offer
to-day. As many as five-and-twenty churches, crowded
with devout congregations ; noble institutions of every
description, and intended to minister to every want; a
Cathedral of unrivalled grandeur and beauty, reminding
one much of St. Peter's ; a vast and orderly flock, rising
every day in independence and in wealth ; and, to crown
all, a learned and pious Bishop, who had been a Protestant !
Persecution is not a wise game for those who play it ; for
it almost invariably happens that the persecuted have the
best of it 'in the long run. So does Providence dispose.

Flushed with their unholy triumphs of church-burning,
convent-wrecking, and house-pillaging, a chosen band of
the Philadelphia rioters were to be welcomed with a public
procession by their sympathisers of New York ; but the
stern attitude of the Catholics, obedient to the voice and
amenable to the authority of their Bishop, dismayed the
cowardly portion of their enemies, and taught even the
boldest that discretion was the better part of valour.

It was not the first time that the Catholics of New York
had taken a firm stand against the frenzy of the 'No-
Popery ' faction. Shortly after the burning of the convent
in Boston, there was an attempt made to destroy St.
Patrick's Cathedral. But the church was put in a state
of defence ; ' the streets leading to it were torn up, and
every window was to be a point whence missiles could be
thrown on the advancing horde of sacrilegious wrretches ;
while the wall of the churchyard, rudely constructed,
bristled with the muskets of those ready for the last
struggle for the altar of their God and the graves of those
they loved. So fearful a preparation, unknown to the

Theological, and Miscellaneous Subjects, by M. S. Spaldiug, D.D , Archbishop of
Baltimore, Published by John Murphy and Co., Baltimore.

THE BISHOP AND THE MAYOR. 441

enemies of religion, came upon them like a thunderclap,
when their van had nearly reached the street leading to
the Cathedral : they fled in all directions in dismay.' *

A meeting of the Native Americans of New York was
called in the City Hall Park, to give a suitable reception
to their brethren from Philadelphia. The time for action
had thus arrived. Bishop Hughes had made it known
through the columns of the Freeman's Journal^ then under
his entire control, that the scenes of Philadelphia should
not be renewed with impunity in New York ; and he was
known to have said — in reply to a priest who, having
escaped from Philadelphia, advised him to publish an
address, urging the Catholics to keep the peace — 'If a
single Catholic church were burned in New York, the city
would become a second Moscow.' There was no mistaking
his spirit and that of his flock — excepting, of course, the
' good cautious souls who/ as the Bishop wrote, ' believe
in stealing through the world more submissively than suits
a freeman.' The churches wrere guarded by a sufficient
force of men, resolved to die in their defence, but also
resolved to make their assailants feel the weight o£ their
vengeance. By an extra issue of the Freeman, the Bishop
warned the Irish to keep away from all public meetings,
especially that to be held in the Park. He then called
upon the Mayor, and advised him to prevent the proposed
demonstration.

' Are you afraid/ asked the Mayor, ' that some of your
churches will be burned ? '

* No, sir ; but I am afraid that some of yours will be
burned. We can protect our own. I come to warn you
for your own good.'

'Do you think, Bishop, that your people would attack
the procession ? '

* The Catholic Church in the United States, by Henry De Courcey and John
Gilmary Fhea. Edward Dunigan aiid Brother, New York.

t Now in the hands of James E. M'AIasters, one of the ablest and most fearless
v riters of the American press.

442 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

' I do not, but the native Americans want to provoke a
Catholic riot, and if they can do it in no other way, I
believe they would not scruple to attack the procession
themselves, for the sake of making it appear that the
Catholics had assailed them.'

' What, then, would you have me do ? '

' I did not come to tell you what to do. I am a church-
man, not the Mayor of New York ; but if I were the
Mayor, I would examine the laws of the State, and see if
there were not attached to the police force a battery of ar-
tillery, arid a company or so of infantry, and a squadron of
horse ; and I think I should find that there were ; and if
so, I should call them out. Moreover, I should send to Mr.
Harper, the Mayor-elect, who has been chosen by the votes
of this party. I should remind him, that these men are
his supporters ; I should warn him, that if they carry out
their design, there will be a riot ; and I should urge him
to use his influence in preventing this public reception of
the delegates.' *

There was no demonstration. And every right-minded
man, every lover of peace in the city, must have applauded
the course taken by Dr. Hughes, to whose prudent firmness
was mainly attributable the fact that New York was saved
from riot, bloodshed, murder, and sacrilege, and, above all,
from that dreadful feeling of unchristian hate between man
and man, citizen and citizen, neighbour and neighbour,
which such collisions are certain for years after to leave
rankling in the breast of a community.

"We come now to the year 1852, and witness the gigantic
stride which the Church has made since 1833, when ten
bishops met at the First Council of Baltimore. Irish and
German Catholics had been pouring into the United

* Hassard's Life of Archbishop Hughes. D. Apple ton and Co., New York.

PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH. 443

States by hundreds of thousands ; and tire 200 Catholics of
New York in 1785, and the 35,000 of 1829, had become
200,000 in 1852. Instead of the one archbishop, and ten
bishops, of 1833, there were now six archbishops, and
twenty-six bishops; while the number of priests, which
was about 300 in 1833, had now increased to 1385, with
churches and stations in proportion. We shall see how
this advance, great and hopeful as it was, has been far
exceeded by the progress made in the short space of the
next fourteen years.

Writing of the city of New York of 1853, Bishop
Bayley — then Secretary to Archbishop Hughes — says : —
' No exertions could have kept pace with the tide of
emigration which has been pouring in upon our shores.
The number of priests, churches, and schools, rapidly as
they have increased, are entirely inadequate to the wants
of our Catholic population, and render it imperative that
every exertion should be made to supply the deficiency.'
Something of the same kind might be said of 1867, though
the means are now proportionately greater than they were
fifteen years before, not in New York alone, but throughout
the United States. Convents, hospitals, asylums, schools,
were then,' in 1853, rapidly on the increase, the Religious
Orders spreading their branches and establishing their
houses whenever there was a chance of their bare support,
and often, too, braving privations similar to those which
Mrs. Se ton's infant community endured at Emmettsburg
and at Philadelphia in the early days of their existence.

444 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXV.

The Know Nothing Movement — Jealousy of the Foreigner —
Know Nothings indifferent to Religion— Democratic Orators-
Even at the Altar and in the Pulpit— Almost Incredible —
The Infernal Miscreant — A Strange Confession.

THE KNOW NOTHING movement of 1854 and 1855
troubled the peace of Catholics, and filled the hearts
of foreign-born American citizens with sorrow and indigna-
tion. They were made the victims of rampant bigotry and
furious political partisanship. There was nothing new in
this Know Nothingism. It was as old as the time of the
Revolution, being Native Americanism under another name.
Its animating spirit was hostility to the stranger — insane
jealousy of the foreigner. It manifested itself in the
Convention which formed the Constitution of the United
States, though the right to frame that Constitution' had
been largely gained through the valour of adopted citizens,
born in foreign countries, and through the aid and assist-
ance of a foreign nation. It manifested itself in the year
1796, in laws passed during the Administration of President
Adams, a narrow-minded man, much "prejudiced against
foreigners. The Alien Act, which was one of the most
striking results of the illiberal spirit of that day, provided
— ' That the President of the United States shall be, and
is hereby authorised, in any event aforesaid, by his pro-
clamation thereof, or other public act, to direct the con-
duct to be .observed, on the part of the United States,
towards Aliens .... the manner and degree of the re-

JEALOUSY OF THE FOREIGNER 445

straint to which they shall be subjected, and in what
cases, and upon what security their residence shall be
permitted, and to provide for the removal of those who,
not being permitted to reside in the United States, shall
refuse or neglect to depart therefrom/ Here was a despo-
tism marvellously inconsistent with the object and purpose
of the struggle which secured freedom and independence
to the revolted colonies of England ! Here also was folly
bordering upon madness, in discouraging that great ex-
ternal resource, through which alone the enormous terri-
tory even then comprehended within the limits of the
Union could be populated and civilised — namely, the
foreign element — those impelled, through various causes
and motives, to cross the ocean, and make their home in
America. Kemembering the history of the last fifty
years, during which thousands, hundreds of thousands,
nay millions of the population of Europe have been spread-
ing themselves over the vast American continent, building
up its cities, penetrating and subduing its forests, re-
claiming its wastes, constructing its great works, develop-
ing its resources, multiplying its population — in a word,
making America what she is at this day — one does not
know whether to laugh at the absurdity of those who
imagined that, without injury to the future of the States,
they might bar their ports to emigrants from foreign
countries ; or doubt the sanity of those who could delibe-
rately proclaim, as the Hartford Convention of 1812 did —
'That the stock of population already in these States is
' amply sufficient to render this nation in due time suffi-
' ciently great and powerful, is not a controvertible ques-
1 tion.' * Certainly not controvertible to vanity and folly,
which were stimulated by absurd jealousy and causeless
apprehension. The generous men who assembled at Hart-
ford were willing to ' offer the rights of hospitality ' to the
strangers, under such conditions as those imposed in the

* For the disproof of this absurd boast, see Appendix.

446 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Alien Act ; but they took care to restrict their munificence
to such fair limits as would secure all the honours and
emoluments to themselves. Thus : ' No person who shall
hereafter be naturalised shall be eligible as a member of
the Senate or House of Representatives of the United
States, nor capable of holding any office under the autho-
rity of the United States.' The Alien and Sedition laws,
passed in the Administration of Adams, were repealed,
fourteen years afterwards, by the Jefferson Administration.
These laws were repugnant to the spirit of the American
Constitution ; and in opposing such laws, and confronting
the narrow and ungrateful policy in which they originated,
Jefferson and Madison were simply treading in the broad
footprints of the illustrious Washington.

This hostility to the foreigner, intensified by religious
prejudice, exhibited itself on various occasions — notably
in the disgraceful riots of 1844 ; but on no occasion was
the feeling so universal, or its display so marked, as in
the years 1854 and 1855, when the banner of Know
Nothingism was made the symbol of political supremacy.
Here was every element necessary to a fierce and relentless
strife. The Constitution of Know Nothingism was anom-
alously adopted on the 17th of June, 1854, the anniversary
of the Battle of Bunker's Hill. Strange, that a day sacred
to the freedom of America should be that on which citizens
of a free republic should plot in the dark against the liber-
ties of their fellow men. But so it was. A very few ex-
tracts from authentic documents will declare the motives
and objects of this organisation : —

ARTICLE II.

A person to become a member of any subordinate council must
be twenty-one years of age ; he must believe in the existence of a
Supreme Being as the Creator and Preserver of the Universe ; he
must be a native-born citizen ; a Protestant, born of Protestant
parents, reared under Protestant influence, and not united in marriage
with a Roman Catholic, &c.. &c., &c.

THE KNOW NOTHING INDIFFERENT TO RELIGION. 447

AHTICLK III.

Sec. 1. The object of this organisation shall be to resist the in-
sidious policy of the Church of Rome, and other foreign influence
against the institutions of our country, by placing in all offices in the
gift of the people, or by appointment, none but native-born Protestant
citizens.

The Know Nothing oath — for the society was not only
secret, but bound by oaths — was in accordance with the
spirit of the foregoing. It was comprehensive as well as
precise, as the following will show : —

You furthermore promise and declare that you will not vote nor
give your influence for any man for any office in the gift of the people
unless he be an American-born citizen, in favour of Americans ruling
America, nor if he be a Roman Catholic.

You solemnly and sincerely swear, that if it may be legally, you
will, when elected to any office, remove all foreigners and Roman
Catholics from office ; and that you will in no case appoint such to
office.

Many who joined this organisation had not the excuse,
the bad excuse, of fanaticism for their conduct. Lust of
power was their ruling passion ; to trample their oppo-
nents under foot, and secure everything to themselves,
their animating motive. If they could have attained their
ends through the Catholic body, they would have employed
every art of wile and seduction in the hope of securing
their co-operation ; but as they deemed it more to their
advantage to assail and blacken the Catholics, they ac-
cordingly did assail and blacken them to the satisfaction of
their dupes. For religion — any form of religion — they
did not care a cent ; probably they regarded it as so much
venerable superstition and priestcraft — a very excellent
thing for women and persons of weak mind, but not for
men ; at any rate, men of their enlightenment. Members
of no congregation, these defenders of the faith never
' darkened the door ' of a church or meeting-house, and
save, like the sailor who did not know of what religion ho
was, but was ' d d sure he was no!; a Papist,' cnlertain-

448 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ing a blind prejudice against Catholicity, they were as igno-
rant of Christian belief as any savage of Central Africa.

Happily for the cause of truth and common sense, there
were in those days men bold enough to lash hypocrisy and
humbug. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, was one of those
bold defenders of the truth, and nnmaskers of fraud.
His speeches, when canvassing his State on the Democratic
ticket for the office of Governor, which he won gallantly,
are full of the most stinging rebukes of his opponents,
whom he defeated in argument as well as in votes. In
his remarkable speech at Alexandria, he thus hit off
the religious pretensions of many of this class of Know
Nothings, who affected a new-born interest in the
Bible :—

They not only appeal to the religious element, but they raise a cry
about the Pope. These men, many of whom are neither Episcopalians,
Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, or
what not — who are men of no religion, who have no church, who do
not say their prayers, who do not read their Bible, who live God-
defying lives every day of their existence, are now seen with faces as
long as their dark-lanterns, with the whites of their eyes turned up
in holy fear lest the Bible should be shut up by the Pope ! Men who
were never known before, on the face of God's earth, to show any
interest in religion, to take any part with Christ or His Kingdom,
who were the devil's own, belonging to the devil's church, are, all of
a sudden, deeply interested for the word of God, and against the
Pope! It would be well for them that they joined a church which
does believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.

As a further specimen of the manner of this famous
Democrat, another passage may be quoted from the same
speech. He now desires to show the religion of the party,
as denned by their Constitution, according to which one
of the qualifications of membership is mere belief in the
existence of "' a Supreme Being' : —

No Christ acknowledged! No Saviour of mankind! No Holy
Ghost ! No heavenly Dove of Grace ! Go, go, you Know Nothings,
to the city of Baltimore, and in a certain street there you will see
two churches : one is inscribed, ' O Monos Theos ' — ' to the one God ; '

DEMOCRATIC ORATORS. 44<J

on the other is the inscription, i As for us. we preach Christ crucified
— to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.'
The one inscribed, ' O Monos Theos • is the Unitarian church ; the
other, inscribed. • We preach Christ crucified ' is the Catholic church !
Is it — I ask of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, and Bap-
tists— is it, I ask, for any orthodox Trinitarian Christian Church to
join an association that is inscribed, like the Unitarian church at
Baltimore. • 0 Monos Theos' — to the one God? Is it for them to
join or countenance an association that so lays its religion as to catch
men like Theodore Parker and James Freeman Clarke ? I put it to
nil the religious societies — to the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians,
the Methodists, and the Baptists — whether they mean to renounce the
divinity of Christ and the operation of the Holy Spirit, when they
give countenance to this secret society, which is inscribed. ' to the
one God ? '

A rebuke, milder in tone, and beautiful as a picture,
may be taken from a speech delivered at Richmond by
Senator. R. M. T. Hunter during the Know Nothing cam-
paign :—

But, fellow-citizens, I went a little too far when I said it was pro-
posed to proscribe Catholics for all offices in this country. There are
some offices which the sons and daughters of that Church are still
considered competent to discharge. I mean the offices of Christian
charity, of ministration to the sick. The Sister of Charity may enter
yonder pest-house, from whose dread portals the bravest and strongest
man quails and shrinks ; she may breathe there the breath of the
pestilence that walks abroad in that mansion of misery, in order to
minister to disease where it is most loathsome, and to relieve suffering
where it is most helpless. There, too, the tones of her voice may be
heard mingling with the last accents of human despair, to soothe the
fainting soul, as she points through the gloom of the dark valley of
the shadow of death to the Cross of Christ, which stands transfigured
in celestial light, to bridge the way from earth to heaven. And when
cholera or yellow fever invades your cities, the Catholic Priest may
refuse to take refuge in flight, holding the place of the true Soldier of
the Cross to be by the sick man's bed, even though death pervades
the air, because he may there tender the ministrations of his holy
office to those who need them most.

It is impossible to describe the frenzy that seemed to
possess a certain portion of the American people, whose
strongest passions and most cherished prejudices were

450 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

stimulated by appeals from the press and the platform,
the pulpit and the street tub. It seized on communities
and individuals as a species of uncontrollable insanity.
Bitten by the madness of the moment, acquaintance turned
savagely on acquaintance, friend upon friend, even relative
upon relative. The kindly feelings which it took years
to cement were rudely torn asunder and trampled under
foot. The Irish Catholic was the chief object of attack.
He was guilty of the double crime of being an Irish-
man and a Catholic ; and, to do him justice, he was as
ready to proclaim his faith as to boast of his nativity.
His enemies were many, his friends few, his defenders less.
Poor Pat had indeed a sad time of it.

That the religious feeling added bitterness to the
national prejudice was made manifest by the unreasoning
fury of those who combined both antipathies in their
hostility. Either, however, was quite sufficient to swell
the outcry and deepen the hatred against its unoffending
objects. Thus the religious prejudice was so bitter, and
so violent, that it prevailed against identity of nation-
ality ; and the national prejudice was so envenomed that
religious sympathy could scarcely restrain its exhibition,
and could not prevent its existence. It is not to be won-
dered at that the genuine Irish Orangeman sided with the
persecutors of his Catholic countrymen ; and his conduct
on many occasions was a sufficient evidence of his unnatu-
ral ferocity. Many Irish Protestants, not Orangemen,
gave countenance to the Know Nothings, though, accord-
ing to the Know Nothing code, none but native-born
Protestants were held to be eligible for any office or
position in the gift of the people, whether by election or
appointment. The shabby conduct of this class of Irish-
men was the result either of sectarian hate, or a sense of
their own helplessness. They were willing to persecute,
or they hoped to propitiate ; therefore, they too joined
in the crusade against their countrymen in a foreign

EVEN AT THE ALTAR AND IN THE PULPIT. 451

land. But there were many, many glorious exceptions to
this unworthy conduct. Irish Protestants — men of strong
religious opinions, who opposed Catholicity on principle —
boldly took their stand by the oppressed, and resented the
policy of the Know Nothing party, as if it were directed
exclusively against themselves. Sympathising with their
Catholic fellow-countrymen, they met the assailants gal-
lantly, and rebuked their insane folly \vith the courage
and the sense of men. And to Irishmen who thus acted
Catholics felt bound by the strongest ties of gratitude
and respect. It was a time to test the true merit of the
man, and those who stood it triumphantly were deservedly
honoured.

Strange as it may appear, this anti-foreign insanity
caught hold of the sons of Irish Catholics ; nay, its presence
was detected at the altar and in the pulpit! It was too
base an infirmity to touch a generous mind, and those
who were affected by it were weak and vain and foolish,
and Americans knew them to be such. Where one is born
is a matter of accident. If this be so under ordinary
circumstances, it is eminently so with the children of
emigrants ; they may have been born al either side of the
Atlantic, or at sea. Absurd instances might be told of
the sons of Irish Catholic emigrants boasting of their
American birth, and expressing their sympathy with the
Know Nothing's hatred of foreigners. The humble, honest
parents, redolent of the soil, endowed with a brogue rich
and mellifluous enough to betray their origin, were they
met with on the Steppes of Russia or in the desert of
Sahara ; and the unworthy son railing, with the choicest
accent of the country in which he was accidentally
* dropped,' against the land of his fathers ! Such spec-
tacles have been witnessed, to the infinite shame of the
miserable creatures whose vanity was too much for a weak
head and a poor heart. But that such melancholy spec-
tacles were witnessed — were possible — is a proof of the

452 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

madness that seized on the public mind. The high-minded
American Catholic took his stand by his Irish co-religionist,
to whose fidelity, liberality, and enthusiasm he justly
attributed much of the marvellous progress which the
Church had made, and was destined to make, in America.
There were, among Catholics, a few exceptions to this
generous and wise policy ; but, on the whole, the religious
sympathy held all other feelings in control, or effectually
neutralised the poison of the national infection.

Like fever or cholera, this politico-religious epidemic
was milder or more virulent in one place than in another.
Here it seized hold of the entire community ; there it
caught but a few individuals. Here it signalised its
presence by riots ; there by bloodshed. In this city its
congenial result was a burning, or a cowardly assassi-
nation ; in the other a stand-up fight, in which the Irish
Catholic had to encounter enormous odds against him.
That comparatively little mischief was done to ecclesias-
tical property may be accounted for by the manner with
which, as by one impulse, the Catholics rallied round
churches and convents wherever there was a probability
of their being assailed. . In New York, Know Nothingism
made little external display in mischief and outrage ;
which fact may be accounted for in two ways — the one,
that the Irish population had by this time grown too
powerful to be wantonly trifled with ; the other, that
they listened in an obedient spirit to the advice of the
Archbishop, who wisely believed that the madness would
speedily die out if left to itself, and if not stimulated
b/ opposition ; that it was something similar to a confla-
gration of flax, violent for the moment, but without any
enduring power. The Archbishop was right in his judg-
ment. It was a frenzy of the hour, artfully inflamed by
angry sects, and skilfully directed by unscrupulous poli-
ticians— men who would stop at nothing which could in
any way further the objects of their selfish ambition. The

ALMOST INCREDIBLE. 453

fury of the madness did die out ; but the feelings to which
it gave rise, or evoked into new life, did not so readily pass
away.

I might possibly be accused of romancing if I ventured
to describe the feeling of hostility to which abuse and
misrepresentation of Catholics — Irish Catholics especially
— gave rise in the Protestant mind of America. Horrible
as such a confession may sound in the ears of rational
men, Protestants of good repute have since declared, that
at one time they believed that to kill a Catholic priest, or
burn down a Catholic church, would be doing the most
acceptable service to God! I had heard this from the
most reliable sources in more than one State ; yet it was
so monstrous, I hesitated to give it credence. But while I
wavered between doubt and belief, I myself heard from
the lips of a Catholic convert — a gentleman of worth and
good social position — the same confession, in almost the
very same words. I naturally thought, what must have
been the sentiment of a low and vulgar mind, when such
was the feeling of a man of good character and so-called
liberal education ? Until I heard him, I did not thoroughly
appreciate the moral blindness and savage frenzy of the
genuine Know Nothing.

An alderman of a certain city in Tennessee informed a
friend of mine that such was his feeling in his youth, that
* he considered it doing an honour to the Deity to take his
double-barrelled shot-gun, and shoot any Catholic he might
meet.' He does not hold that opinion now; as he has
been a zealous Catholic since the Christmas of 1865, when
he was received into the Church.

In another city of Tennessee an Irishman, named
Hefferman, w&s shot during the Know Nothing excite-
ment ; but the three men who were the cause of his death
joined the Church which they hated and persecuted in his
person.

Indeed, such was the astounding rampancy of assertion

454 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

— sucli the omnivorous swallow of public credulity — that
when the Catholic Church of Nashville was in the course
of erection, it was stated in the newspaper which borrowed
its inspiration from the present Governor Brownlow, that
the vaults, or basement of the building, were intended for
the incarceration of Protestants wrhen the Pope was to
come over and take the country! It was also asserted,
and rather widely believed, that John Mitchell, who had
started the Citizen newspaper, was an agent of the Jesuits ;
in fact, a Jesuit in disguise ! I must admit that the cre-
dulity which converted basements of churches into dun-
geons ought not to be quoted as a conclusive proof "of the
insanity of Know Nothingism ; for I have heard much the
same thing announced in a solemn place, and with owl-
like gravity, not long since, and not in America.

The honest ' No Popery ' zealots were not bad, but only
misguided men ; and when they had the opportunity of
forming a right judgment — of emancipating themselves
from the leading-strings in which interested bigots had
held their minds — they unhesitatingly made the fullest and
most generous atonement.

One of these furious but honest 'No Popery' zealots was
going on a voyage of some days' duration, and happening
to come 6n board the steamer at the last moment before
her departure, he found it difficult to procure accommo-
dation. 'Not a cabin, sir — not a berth — all taken,' said
the clerk. 'Can't you put me anywhere?' asked the
gentleman; 'go I must, though I slept on the floor.' The
clerk glanced over his books to see how, if possible, he
could accommodate the passenger, who awaited the result
with marked anxiety. 'I have discovered a berth, sir —
the top berth — in one cabin ; the lower berth is occupied
by a very quiet person, who won't give you much trouble ;
he's a Catholic priest.' ' A Catholic priest ! — did you say
a priest ? Why, damn him ! I would not stay in the same
room with him,' exclaimed the passenger. 'Well, sir,

THE ' INTERNAL MISCREANT. 455

that's your affair, not mine/ replied the clerk ; 'it is all
I can do for you.5 ' Look you !' said the passenger, 'if one
of us is missed at the end of the voyage, I tell you it won't
be me ; for if that fellow dares to address one word to me,
out of the window he will go — that I tell you now.' The
clerk took the declaration coolly, not being unused to hear
strong language, and even occasionally witness strange
occurrences. In this happy frame of mind the passenger
took possession of his upper berth at night, and growled
himself to sleep. When he awoke in the morning, and
remembered where he was, and who was his companion,
he had the curiosity to ascertain what the 'infernal mis-
creant was after.' Peeping from his vantage-ground, he
beheld the miscreant on his knees, apparently absorbed in
prayer. ' Damn you ! there you are,' was the benediction
muttered in the bed-clothes of the upper berth. Its
occupant looked again and again, but the miscreant was
still at 'his humbug.' At length the miscreant rose from
his knees and left the cabin, thus affording the tenant of
the upper berth an opportunity of opening the window,
and getting rid of the odour of brimstone which 'the
devil' had left after him. When the pair happened to
meet during the day, the lower berth courteously bowed,
and said something civil, to which the upper berth re-
sponded with something that bore a strange resemblance
to an imprecation. ' Is the fellow really serious, or is it
all a sham?' thought the Know Nothing, as he witnessed
the same piety, the same wrapt devotion, the second morn-
ing. Stranger still, if the upper berth happened to visit
the cabin during the day, it was ten chances to one that
he discovered the 'extraordinary animal* on his knees, or
deep in a book of devotion. For days the priest was the
object of the most jealous watchfulness, stimulated by
suspicion and dislike ; but it was ever the same — the same
appearance of genuine piety, 'and the same courtesy of
manner. The honest gentleman in the upper berth was

456 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

staggered, and did not know what to think of it. 'The
fellow might possibly be a fool, but he certainly was not
a humbug.' This was a great concession, a gigantic stride
towards liberality of sentiment. At length he spoke with
his fellow-passenger, and found him, what others had long
before found him to be, intelligent and well-informed.
He was not a fool, and not a humbug ; then, what was he ?
The conviction rapidly grew upon the tenant of the upper
berth, that his companion was a gentleman and a Christian
minister ; and, ere the voyage was at an end, the heart of
the furious hater of Catholicity was changed ; more than
that, ere many months had passed, he who threatened to
put the priest out of the window on the first provocation,
became a practical Catholic, and there is not at this moment
in America a stouter defender of the Church than he is.

As a striking contrast to the furious and unreasoning
hatred which the incident just narrated represents, one of
a different nature may be told. It occurred in the very
height of the Know Nothing excitement, during a journey
made by a priest, who is now Bishop of a Southern
diocese.

The clergyman found himself one of a very miscella-
neous company in a public stage. Next to him, as he sat
in the front part of the vehicle, was a gentleman of grave
and reserved demeanour; while the other passengers ap-
peared to be of the ordinary class to be met with under
such circumstances, who freely discussed all manner of
topics, whether of a personal or a public nature, and
whose language was occasionally sprinkled with profanity.
The company had proceeded a considerable way on their
journey, when the gentleman who sat next the future
Bishop enquired of him if he were not a 'minister?' 'Why
do you think so?' asked the priest. 'Well; I don't ex-
actly know ; but you say grace before meals, and you
don't curse and swear.' 'I' am a Catholic priest,' said the
gentleman's neighbour. 'I am glad to hear it/ said the

A STRANGE CONFESSION. 467

gentleman, ' for I desire to ask you a question ; and believe
me I do not think of asking it from an idle motive, as
you will see.' The priest assured him he would be happy
to answer any questions which it was in his power to
answer. ' Then I wish to know if a Catholic clergyman
would hear the confession of a Protestant, if the Protes-
tant wanted to confess ? ' ' Confession/ replied the priest,
' has two benefits — good advice and absolution. Absolu-
tion can only be given to a Catholic, but good advice may
be given to a Protestant : and, therefore, for that purpose
— the giving of good advice — a priest could hear the con-
fession of a Protestant.' ' I told you, ' continued the
gentleman, * I did not ask the question from an idle
motive. I am a Protestant, and I wish you to hear my
confession, that I may have the benefit of your advice.'
The priest consented, using the simple words, ' Very well,
begin.' At this moment the passengers, who had left the
stage, were walking up a long and steep hill: and while
the two men were apparantly sauntering idly up that hill,
one of them was pouring into the ear of the other a story
of the deepest interest to his peace of soul ; and when
the passengers again resumed their places in the stage,
and while laugh, and jest, and profane remark were heard
on every side, that strange confession was continued, as the
two men leaned back in the vehicle, and the one listened
to the voluntary disclosures of the other. When the story
had been told, and the promised advice given, the gentle-
man said, ' Well, now, I can't understand it ! These are
matters that I could not tell to my brother — that I would
not for the world my wife should know — that I could not
confide to my minister, or whisper to my friends, for I
would die rather thai! that the world should know them ;
and here I have freely told them to you, a stranger, whom
I never saw before, and whom I may never see again —
and why do I tell all this to you? Because you are a
Catholic priest. And what appears to me so strange is the

20

458 THE IRISH JN AMERICA.

perfect confidence I have in you; for I have not the
slightest fear you will ever reveal one word of what I have
told you. to mortal ears. This is what I cannot under-
stand.'

The seeds of sectarian hatred were scattered broadcast
over the land, or wafted, like the thistle-down, on every
breeze ; and if there had been no recent crop of lusty hate
and active frenzy — if there have been no burnings, and
wreckings, and outrages, to record up to this time, not-
withstanding that the usual period for the outbreak of
such semi-religious semi-political epidemics has come and
gone, this apparently strange phenomenon may be ration-
ally accounted for. We should be glad to attribute it
wholly to the good sense of the American people, who
we should desire to think were no longer to be made the
dupes of monstrous falsehoods and deliberate misrepresen-
tations, or to be led astray by theories which are not only
grossly absurd, but opposed to the progress of the United
States. Making, however, every fair allowance for the
growing good sense of the American people, we cannot
but attribute much of the better feeling which now exists
to an event that may be well described as one of the
most memorable in the history of the world — the late
Civil "War. Not only has that war exhibited in the most
signal manner the enormous value of the foreign element
— its strength, its courage, and its fidelity ; but the
Catholic Church has had, during that terrible national
ordeal, an unlooked-for though Providential opportunity
. of displaying its true policy, at once Christian and patri-
otic, and of convincing even the most prejudiced of its
purity, its holiness, and its charity.

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Catholic Church and the Civil War— The True Mission of the
Church— The Church Speaks for Herself— the • Sisters ' during
the War — The Patients could not make them out — The Forgiven
Insult— 'What the Sister believes I believe' — The Chariot of
Mercy — 'Am I to Forgive the Yankees?' — Prejudices Conquered
— 'That's she! I owe my Life to her' — An Emphatic Rebuke —
' We want to become Catholics.'

THE Catholic Church of America, regarding war as a great
calamity, and civil war — of State against State, citizen
against citizen, even brother against brother — as the direst
of all evils, scrupulously abstained from uttering one word
that could have a tendency to inflame or exasperate the
passions which others were doing their utmost to excite to
uncontrollable fury. The mission of the Church was to
proclaim glad^ tidings of peace to man, not to preach strife
and hatred amongst brethren. Thus those who visited
the Catholic churches of the United States from the Spring
of 1861 to the Autumn of that year, would never have
supposed, from anything heard within their walls, that the
trumpet had sounded through the land ; that armies were
gathering, and camps were forming ; that foundries were
at full blast, forming implements of death ; that artificers
were hard at work, fashioning the rifle and the revolver,
sharpening the sword, and pointing the bayonet ; that
dockyards rang with the clang of hammers, and resounded
with the cries of myriads of busy men — that America was
in the first throes of desperate strife. Nor, as time went
on, and all the pent-up passions of years were unloosed,
and a deadly war progressed with varying fortunes, and

460 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

fury possessed the heart of a mighty people, could the
stranger who entered a Catholic temple scarcely believe in
the existence of the storm that raged without ; the only
indications of the tremendous conflict being the many
dark robes, the sad livery of woe, worn by women and
children — the mothers, wives, or orphans of those who had
fallen in battle ; for, save in the greater solemnity of the
priest, as he raised the hearts of his congregation to the
throne of God, there to sue for grace and pardon, there was
nothing to imply the existence of a struggle whose gigantic
proportions filled the world with amazement. The Catholic
Church was content to preach ' Christ crucified ' to its own
followers, as to all who came to listen. It regarded its
pulpit as a sacred chair, from which it was to teach the
knowledge of the truth, how man could best fulfil his
duties to his Creator, his country, and his neighbour. It
deemed — and the judgment of the wise and good will say
it deemed rightly — that if the minister of religion became
a firebrand, instead of a preacher of peace, he misunder-
stood his duty, and prostituted the sanctity of his office :
it held, that it was a gross desecration of a temple erected
to the worship of the Deity, to suffer it to resound with
the language of unholy strife — with eloquent incentives
to massacre and desolation. Others might act as they
pleased ; they might turn their churches into political as-
semblies, and their pulpits into party platforms — they might
rage, and storm, and fulminate — they might invoke the
fiercest passions of the human breast, and appeal to the
lowest instincts of man's nature — they might stimulate
their hearers to a wider destruction of life and property,
to sadder and more terrible havoc ; others might do this,
as others did — but the Catholic Church of America was
neither bewildered by the noise and smoke of battle, nor
made savage by the scent of blood : she simply fulfilled her
mission, the same as that of the Apostles — she preached
the Word of God in lovingness and peace.

THE CHURCH SPEAKS FOK HERSELF. 461

This was the language and spirit of the Church, as pro-
claimed in the Pastoral Letter emanating from the Catholic
Bishops assembled in the Third Provincial Council of
Cincinnati, in May 1861 : —

It is not for us to enquire into the causes which have led to the
present unhappy condition of affairs. This enquiry belongs more
appropriately to those who are directly concerned in managing the
affairs of the republic. The spirit of the Catholic Church is emi-
nently conservative, and while her ministers rightfully feel a deep
and abiding interest in all that concerns the welfare of the country,
they do not think it their province to enter into the political arena.
They leave to the ministers of the human sects to discuss from
their pulpits and in their ecclesiastical assemblies the exciting ques-
tions which lie at the basis of most of our present and prospective
difficulties. Thus, while many of the sects have divided into hostile
parties on an exciting political issue, the Catholic Church has care-
fully preserved her unity of spirit in the bond of peace, literally
knowing no North, no South, no East, no West. Wherever Christ
is to be preached and sinners to be saved, there she is found with
ministrations of truth and mercy. She leaves the exciting question
referred to previously where the inspired Apostle of the Gentiles left
it, contenting herself, like him, with inculcating on all classes and
grades of society the faithful discharge of the duties belonging to
their respective states of life, knowing that they will all have to
render a strict account to God for the deeds done in the flesh, that
this life is short and transitory, and that eternity never ends. Beyond
this point her ministers do not consider it their province to go.
knowing well that they are the ministers of God. who is not a God
of dissension, but of peace and love.

Had this wise and considerate line of conduct beeu generally fol-
lowed throughout the country, we are convinced that much of the
embittered feeling which now unfortunately exists, would have been
obviated, and the brotherly love, the genuine offspring of true
Christianity, instead of the fratricidal hatred which is opposed to its
essential genius and spirit, would now bless our country, and bind
together all our fellow citizens in one harmonious brotherhood. May
God. in his abounding mercy, grant that the sectarianism which divides
and sows dissensions, may gradually yield to the Catholic spirit which
breathes unity and love !

The startling contrast which the Catholic Church thus
presented to most, indeed nearly all, of the other churches

402 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

during this period of national tribulation, was not without
its influence on the public mind of America. It made
men think arid reflect, and in numberless instances con-
viction came with thought and reflection. The fervid and
furious ' sermons ' that were listened to with flashing eyes
and quickened pulses by the majority of those to whom
they were addressed, excited the sorrow or disgust of not
a few. A Protestant gentleman, speaking to a Catholic
friend in New York, thus referred to the prevailing topics
which inspired the eloquence of his Boanerges : —

' My wife urged me yesterday to accompany her to our
church. I refused : she was rather angry. " Well, my
dear," I said, " you may go if you please ; the pew is there
for you — I pay for it. But I shan't go. Whenever I
have gone I have never heard but three sermons at the
most — Popery, Slavery, and War — War, Slavery, and
Popery! These may satisfy you — they don't me. When
I go to church I wish to be made better, not worse. Now
I think a little of the Gospel, that tells us something of
peace and charity, would do me good — your War, and
Slavery, and Popery don't. I repeat, my dear, you may
go if you please ; but I'm blessed if I do." '

If the Catholic Church could do nothing to prevent war,
she could at least do much to mitigate its horrors ; and
accordingly she commissioned her noblest representatives
— her consecrated daughters — to minister in the public
hospitals, in the camp, and in the prisons — wherever
wretchedness, and misery, and suffering appealed most
powerfully to their Christian duty and womanly com-
passion.

The events of the war brought out in the most con-
spicuous manner, the merits and usefulness of the Kelig-
ious Orders, especially those of Charity and Mercy, and the
Holy Cross, and, spite of prejudice and bigotry, made
the name of ' Sister ' honoured throughout the land. Pre-
judice and bigotry are powerful with individuals and com-

' THE SISTERS ' DURING THE WAR. 463

munities, powerful, too, in proportion to the ignorance
which shrouds the mind of man. Still, these are but
relatively strong, and must yield before a force superior to
their 's — truth. And as month followed month, and year
succeeded to year, the priceless value of services having
their motive in religion and their reward in the conscious-
ness of doing good, were more thoroughly appreciated by a
generous people. At their presence in an hospital, whether
long established or hastily improvised, order, good manage-
ment, and economy, took the place of confusion, lax ad-
ministration, and reckless expenditure, if not worse. Ob-
stacles, in many instances of a serious nature, were placed
deliberately in their path ; but, with tact, and temper,
and firmness, these were encountered by women who
had no vanity to wound, no malice to inflame, and whose
only object was to relieve the sufferings of the sick and
wounded in the most efficacious manner. - It is there-
fore not to be wondered at that difficulties and obstacles,
however apparently formidable at first, vanished before
the resistless influence of their sincerity and their goodness,
and the quite as conclusive evidence of their usefulness.
But the greater their success, the greater the strain on
the resources of the principal Orders. Not only did death
and sickness thin their ranks, but the war, by adding
fearfully to the number of helpless orphans, added like-
wise to their cares and responsibilities. What with cease-
less duty in the hospitals, teaching in their schools, visit-
ing the sick, providing for the fatherless whom every
great battle flung upon their protection, administering
the affairs of institutions perilled by the universal dis-
turbance, bringing relief and consolation to the prisoner
in the crowded building, or wretched camp to which the
chance of war consigned the soldier on either side — the
Sisters were tried to the very uttermost. Nothing but the
spirit of religion, together with their womanly compassion
for the sick and the suffering, and their interest in the brave

464 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

fellows who, docile children in their hands, followed them
with wistful eyes as, angels of light and mercy, they
brought balm to the heart of the wounded, — nothing short
of the sublime motives by which these ladies were animated
could have sustained them throughout four long years of
ceaseless toil and never-ending anxiety.

You may have seen the feeblest bird exhibit unlooked-
for courage when danger threatened its young. Maternal
instinct renders it almost unrecognisable — the glittering-
eye, the ruffled plumage, and the bold attitude, make it
so unlike the ordinary timid creature. So, gentle, shrink-
ing, timid as the Sister might be under ordinary circum-
stances, let the least wrong be done to her patients — let
even incompetency or neglect be manifested in an hospital
under her charge ; and that gentle-mannered, soft-spoken
Sister would come out instantly in a new character. Many
an official — proud, or insolent, or bigoted, or incompetent,
or corrupt — has had to bend before the quiet determina-
tion expressed in the voice and manner of the Sister
inspired by a sense of duty springing alike from humanity
and religion. Throughout the country, in almost every
State of the Union, are now to be seen Sisters — calm,
gentle, soft-voiced women — of whose sturdy energy and
resolute courage in defence of their sick charge, or in
resistance of abuses, numerous instances are narrated ;
never by themselves, but by those who, having witnessed
them, cherish them in their memory. No officer, no
official, ventured to treat the Sister with disrespect, once
her value was known ; and it was soon made known. The
impediments and embarrassments which were occasionally
thrown in her way were borne with as far as they possibly
might be ; but when the time for action arrived, even the
youngest Sister was generally equal to the emergency. As
the war progressed, so did the influence of the Sisters, until
at length there was scarcely a corner of the country into
which a knowledge of their services did not penetrate,

THE PATIENTS COULD NOT MAKE THEM OUT. 4G5

and there were but few homes in which their name was not
mentioned with respect.

At first, the soldiers did not know what to make of
them, and could not comprehend who they were, or what
was their object. And when the patient learned that the
Sister with the strange dress belonged to the Catholic
Church — that church of which so many vile stories had
been told him from his childhood — a look of dread, even
horror, might be observed in his eyes, as he instinctively
recoiled from her proffered services. This aversion rarely
continued long ; it melted away like ice before the sun ;
but, unlike the ice, which the winter again brings round,
this feeling never returned to the heart of the brave man
whom the fortune of war placed under the care of the
Sister. Once gone, it was gone for ever. How the pre-
judice, deep-seated and ingrained, yielded to the influence
of the Sisters, may be best exemplified by a few incidents,
taken at random from a vast number -of a similar nature
gathered in many parts of the country.

Seven Sisters of Mercy, belonging to the Houston Street
Convent in Kew York,- were sent to an hospital attached
to a Federal corps. When they first entered the wards,
which were crowded with sick and wounded, the soldiers
regarded them with amazement. One of the Sisters, a
genial Irishwoman, referring to this her first visit to the
hospital, told with much humour how the bewildered
patients took the Sisters for seven widows, who were
looking for the dead bodies of their husbands !

Among the patients, there was one mere lad — indeed
almost a child, scarce fit to leave his mother's guardian-
ship— and he lay with his face on the pillow, as an hospital
attendant, not eminent for humanity, carelessly sponged a
fearful wound in the back of the poor youth's neck. The
hair had been matted with the clotted blood, and the rude
touch of the heartless assistant was agony to the miserable
patient. ' Let me do it,' said the Sister, taking the in-

466 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

strument of torture from the unsympathising hand ; and
then, with tepid water, and soft sponge, and woman's
delicacy of touch, the hideous sore was tenderly cleansed.
'Oh, who is that? — who are you? — you must be an
angel!' cried the relieved youth. The hair was gently
separated from the angry flesh, so that the grateful patient
could turn his head and glance at the ' angel ; ' but no
sooner did he cast one rapid look at the strange garb
and the novel head-dress of the Sister, than he shrieked
with terror, and buried his face in the pillow. 'Do not
fear me,' said a voice full of sympathy; 'I am only
anxious to relieve your sufferings.' The work of mercy
was proceeded with, to the ineffable comfort of the
wounded boy, who murmured — ' Well, no matter what
you are, you're an angel anyhow.'

At times there were as many as eighty Sisters in or near
Richmond, in active attendance in the hospitals, giving their
services alike to the wounded soldiers of both armies. In
one of the Richmond hospitals the following took place :

A sick man, looking steadily from his pillow at the
Sister, who was busy in her attentions to him, abruptly
asked —

'Who pays you? — what do you get a month? ' .

' We are not paid ; we do not receive salaries,' replied
the Sister.

'Then why do you work as you do? — you never cease
working.'

' What we do, we do for the love of God — to Him we only
look for our reward — we hope He will pay us hereafter.'

The wounded man seemed as if he could not entirely
comprehend a devotion so repugnant to the spirit of the
Almighty Dollar ; but he made no further remark at the
time. When he became more confidential with the Sister,
the following dialogue was held —

Patient. Well, Sister, there is only one class of people
in this world that I hate.

THE FORGIVEN INSULT. 467

Sister. And who may those be ?

Patient. The Catholics.

Sister. The Catholics! Why do you hate them ?

Patient. Well, they are a detestable people.

Sister. Did you ever meet with a Catholic that you say
that of them ?

Patient. No, never ; I never came near one.

Sister. Then how can you think so hardly of persons of
whom you don't know anything ?

Patient. All my neighbours tell me they are a vile and
wicked people.

Sister. Now, what would you think and say of me, if I
were one of those Catholics ?

Patient, (indignantly). Oh, Sister! you! — you who are
so good ! Impossible !

Sister. Then, indeed, I am a Catholic — a Roman Cath-
olic.

The poor fellow, whose nerves were not yet well strung,
rose in his bed as with a bound, looked the picture of
amazement and sorrow, and burst into tears. He had so
lately written to his wife in his distant home, telling her
of the unceasing kindness of the Sister to him, and attri-
buting his recovery to her care ; and he was now to dis-
close the awful fact that the Sister was, after all, one of
those wicked people of whom he and she had heard such
evil things. This was, at first, a great trouble to his
mind ; but the trouble did not last long, for that man left
the hospital a Catholic, of his own free choice, and could
then understand, not only that his neighbours had been,
like himself, the dupes of monstrous fables, but how the
Sister could work and toil for no earthly reward.

A Sister was passing through the streets of Boston with
downcast eyes and noiseless step, reciting a prayer or
thinking of the poor family she was about to visit. As
she was passing on her errand of mercy, she was suddenly
addressed, in language that made her pale cheek flush, by

468 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

a young man of remarkable appearance and free swagger-
ing gait. The Sister, though grievously outraged, uttered
no word, but raised her eyes, and looked at the offender
with calm steady gaze, in which volumes of rebuke were
expressed. Time passed on ; the war intervened ; and
when next they met it was in a ward of a military hospital
in Missouri. The once powerful man was now feeble as
an infant, and had not many days to live. The Sister,
seeing his condition, asked him if he belonged to any
church ; and on his replying in the negative, she asked if
he would be a Catholic. * No — not a Catholic — I always
hated Catholics/ he replied. ' At any rate, you should ask
the pardon of God for your sins, and be sorry for what-
ever evil you have done in your life/ urged the Sister.

* I have committed many sins in my life, Sister, and I
am sorry for them, and hope to be forgiven ; but there is
one thing that weighs heavy on my mind at this moment
— I once insulted a Sister in Boston, and her glance
haunted me ever after : it made me ashamed of myself.
I knew nothing then of what Sisters were, for I had not
known you. But now that I know how good and disin-
terested you are, and how mean I was, I am disgusted
with myself. Oh, if that Sister were here, I could go down
on my knees to her and ask her pardon L'

'You have asked it, and received it/ said the Sister,
looking full at him, but with a sweet expression of tender-
ness and compassion.

1 What ! Are you the sister I met in Boston ? Oh, yes !
you are — I know you now. And how could you have
attended on me with greater care than on any of the other
patients ? — I who insulted you so ! '

' I did it for our Lord's sake, because He loved His ene-
mies, and blessed those who persecuted Him. I knew you
from the first moment you were brought into the hospital,
and I have prayed unceasingly for your conversion/ said
the Sister.

•WHAT THE SISTER BELIEVES I BELIEVE.' 4GO

' Send for the priest ! ' exclaimed the dying soldier ; ' the
religion that teaches such charity must be from Gk>d.'

And he did die in the Sister's faith, holding in his
failing grasp the emblem of man's redemption, and mur-
muring prayers taught him by her whose glance of mild
rebuke had long haiinted him like a remorse through every
scene of revelry or of peril.

'Do you believe that, Sister? If you believe it, I be-
lieve it, too.' There was scarcely an hospital at either side
of the line, North or South, of which the Sisters had the
care, in which these apparently strange but most significant
words were not uttered by the sick and the dying. Many
of the poor fellows had not the vaguest notion of religious
teaching, never having troubled themselves with such
matters in the days of their youth and health ; and when
the experienced eye of the Sister discerned the approach
of death, the patient would be asked if he wished to see a
clergyman. Frequently the answer would be that he did
not belong to any religion. 'Then will you become a
Catholic/ would follow as a fair question to one who pro-
claimed himself not to belong to any church, or to be-
lieve in any form of Christianity. From hundreds, nay
thousands of sick beds, this reply was made to that ques-
tion : ' I don't know much about religion, but I wish to
die in the religion of the Sisters.' When asked, for
example, if he believed in the Trinity, the dying man
would turn to the Sisters who stood by his bedside, and
enquire, — ' Do you, Sister ? ' and on the Sister answering,
' Yes, I do,' he would say, ' Then I do — whatever the
Sister believes in, I do.' And thus he would make his
confession of faith.

A soldier from Georgia, who was tended by the Sisters
in an hospital in St. Louis, declared that ' he had never
heard of Jesus Christ, and knew nothing about him.' He
was asked if he would become a Catholic. ' I have heard
of them,' he said ; ' I would not be one of them at all —

*70 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

they are wicked people. But I'll be the same as you,
Sister ; whatever that is, it must be good.'

At the battle of Gettysburg, a number of Sisters joined
the camp hospital, bringing with them a considerable
quantity of provisions and comforts, procured at their own
cost. They even went on the field, bravely conquering
the natural reluctance of delicate women to witness scenes
of horror such as every inch of a hard-fought battle-field
discloses. What services these tender women — some of
them young creatures not long professed — rendered to the
mangled victims of that furious contest, it were impos-
sible to tell. But so signal was the devotion which they
displayed in an emergency of so pressing a nature, that
they elicited from a preacher the following strange tribute,
published in the newspapers : — ' Although I hate their
religion, and despise their sectarianism, I must do justice
to the self-sacrificing devotion of those pale unmated
flowers, that never ripen with fruit.' One, not a preacher,
might imagine that the blessings and prayers — the purest
offerings of the heart — that sprang up in their path wher-
ever they turned, were fruit the most acceptable to these
' pale unmated flowers ; ' but the idea would appear fan-
tastical and far-fetched to the material nature of their
enlightened panegyrist.

It really matters little, when referring to the services
of the Sisters during the war, which army, which State,
or which hospital is mentioned as the scene of their
labours. Their charity, like their Order, was universal;
and whether they ministered to the sick in a Union or
Confederate army, or in a Northern or Southern State, it
was the same in motive and in object. Next to the sick
in the hospital, the prisoner was the dearest object of their
solicitude.

The Sisters in Charleston did glorious service during the
war — to the sick, the dying, the prisoner, and the needy.
At certain times immense numbers of prisoners were camped

THE CHARIOT OF MERCV. 471

outside the city. They were in a miserable state. Charles-
ton, partly consumed by the tremendous fire of 1861, by
which an enormous amount of property was destroyed,
and further assailed by a bombardment scarcely paralleled
in modern history, could not afford much accommodation
to the captured of the enemy. Penned up together, and
scantily fed, the condition of the prisoner was far from
enviable ; it was indeed deplorable. To these poor fellows
the Sisters were in reality what they were styled — ' angels
of mercy.' Presented with a universal pass by General
Beauregard, the Sisters went everywhere unquestioned, as
if they were so many staff officers. The General had
Likewise presented them with an ambulance and a pair of
splendid white horses, remarkable for their beauty, and,
on account of their colour, conspicuous at a considerable
distance. Many a time has the sight of these horses
brought gladness to the heart of the prisoner, as he beheld
them turning the corner of the highway leading to the
camp. When the white specks were seen some three-
quarters of a mile on the road, the word was given, ' The
Sisters are coming ! ' As that announcement was made,
the drooping spirit revived, and the fainting heart was
stirred with hope ; for with the Sisters came food, com-
forts, presents, perhaps a letter, or at least a message —
and always sweet smiles, gentle words, sympathy and con-
solation. The ambulance, drawn by the gallant white
steeds, was usually filled with hundreds of white loaves —
in fact, with everything which active charity could pro-
cure or " generosity contribute. The rations given to the
prisoners were about as good as the Confederate soldiers
had for themselves; but to the depressed, pent-up pri-
soner, these were coarse and scanty indeed. * Sister!
Sister of Charity ! Sister of Mercy ! — put something in
this hand ! ' — ' Sister, Sister, don't forget me ! ' — ' Sister,
Sister, for the love of God ! ' — Oh, Sister, for God's sake ! '
— such were the cries that too often tortured the tender

472 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

hearts of the Sisters as they found their stock of provisions
fast running out, and knew that hundreds of hungry ap-
plicants were still unsatisfied. Many a time did they turn
away on their homeward journey with whitened lips and
streaming eyes, as they beheld those outstretched hands,
and heard those cries of gaunt and famished men ringing
in their ears. To the uttermost that they could do, the
Sisters did, and this the prisoners knew in their grateful
hearts. These horses shed light in their path ; the clatter
of their feet was as music to the ear of the anxious listener ;
and the blessings of gallant suffering men followed that
chariot of mercy wherever it was borne by its snowy steeds
in those terrible days of trial.

Such was the effect produced by the Sisters on the
minds of the patients in their charge, that when wounded
or sick a second time, they would make every possible
effort to go back to the same hospital in which they had
been previously cared for, or, if that were not possible, to
one under the management of these good women. In-
stances have been told of wounded men who travelled
several hundred miles to come again under the charge of
the Sisters ; and one, in particular, of two men from
Kentucky, who had contrived to make their way to the
large hospital at White Sulphur Springs in Virginia, a
distance of 200 miles from where they had been wounded.
They had been under the care of the Sisters on a former
occasion, and had then agreed that should they ever be
wounded or fall sick again, they would return to the same
hospital, and if they were to die, that they should die in
the faith of the Sisters who had been so good to them.
Both these men were American Protestants, and had
never seen a Catholic priest before they beheld the clergy-
man who received them into the Church in the Virginian
hospital. One of the two men was past cure, and wan

'AM I TO FORGIVE THE YANKEES?' 473

conscious of his approaching death. 'Ben,' said the dying
man to his comrade, ' all is right with me — I am happy ;
but before I die, let me have the satisfaction of seeing you
become a Catholic.' Ben willingly consented to what he
had before resolved on doing, and he was received into
the Church in the presence of his dying friend, over whose
features there stole a sweet smile, that did not depart even
in death.

' Oh, my God ! what's that ! what's that ! ' shrieked a pool-
Southern boy, when he first saw a Sister, as she leaned over
his hospital pallet. His terror was equalled only by his
genuine horror when he discovered she was a Catholic.
Soon, however, his eyes would wander round the ward in
search of the nurse with the sweet smile, the gentle voice,
and the gentler word. Like many of his class he was
utterly ignorant of religion of any description ; he disliked
'Papists,' and he thought that sufficed for every spiritual
purpose. At length he wished to be baptised in the
Sister's faith, and his instruction was commenced. He
was told he should forgive his enemies. ' Am I to forgive
the Yankees ? ' he asked, with indignant eagerness. ' Cer-
tainly,' replied the Sister, 'you must forgive everybody.'
' Ma'am, no — not the Yankees! — no, ma'am — not the Yan-
kees!— I can't.' 'But you must forgive your enemies,
or you can't be a Christian. God forgave those who put
him to death/ persisted the Sister. 'Well, Sister, as you
ask me to do it, I will forgive the Yankees ; but 'tis hard
to do it though, I tell you.'

'Before we left Vicksburg to attend the hospitals,' says
a Sister, 'many of the Irish soldiers returned dreadfully
wounded from the battle of Shiloh, where our pastor, who
had gone to assist their dying moments, said they had
fought, "not like men, but like indomitable lions." We
had many brave Irish patients, but our principal expe-
rience in hospital lay amongst Creoles, or soldiers from
the country parts of the South, whose horror of Sisters at

474 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

first (grounded on their ignorance), formed a strange con-
trast to their subsequent grateful affection.'

* They shrank from us with looks of horror and loathing,
as if we were something full of evil,' remarked a Sister,
whose name was famous for skill, and an energy that ex-
cited the amazement of those who beheld her in the
management of a great hospital. Many a letter, replete
with gratitude and veneration, came to that Sister from all
parts of the States, North and South, and not a few from
those who at first regarded her 'with looks of horror and
loathing, as if she were full of evil.'

The doctors were not one whit behind the humblest
soldiers in ignorant dislike of the Sisters.

A Federal doctor was at first inclined to be rude and
uncivil to the Sisters in the crowded Southern hospital,
then in possession of the forces of the Union, and occasioned
them no little anxiety by his manner, it was so full of
evident dislike and suspicion. They wisely took no notice
of it, but devoted themselves the more sedulously to their
arduous duties. At the end of a few weeks, by which time
his manner had become kind and respectful, the doctor
candidly confessed to one of the Sisters what his feelings
had been, and how completely they were changed. 'I
had such an aversion to Catholics,' said he, 'that I would
not tolerate one of them in an hospital with me. I had
heard of the Sisters, but I was resolved not to have any-
thing to do with them in any place in which I had control.
I confess to you my mind is entirely changed ; and so far
from not wishing to have Sisters in an hospital where I
am, I never want to be in an hospital where they are not.'

The officials were, if possible, still more suspicious, still
more prejudiced.

4 1 used to be up at night watching you, when I should
have been in my bed. I wanted to see what mischief you
were after, for I thought you had some bad motive or
object, and I was determined to know what it was. I

PREJUDICES CONQUERED. 475

could find nothing wrong, but it was a long time before I
could believe in you, my prejudice against you was so
strong. Now I can laugh at my absurd suspicions, and I
don't care telling you of my nonsense.' This speech was
made by the steward of an hospital to Sisters to whom he
had given much trouble by his manner, which seemed to
imply — 'You are humbugs, and 111 find you out, my
ladies ! clever as you think you are.' He was a good but
prejudiced man ; and once that he was convinced how
groundless were his suspicions, he not only treated the
Sisters with marked respect, but became one of their
most strenuous and valuable supporters,

A doctor of the Federal service, who was captured at
the battle of Shiloh, said to a Catholic bishop, — 'Bishop,
I was a great bigot, and I hated the Catholics ; but my
opinions are changed since this war. I have seen no
animosity, but fraternal love, in the conduct of the priests
of both sides. I have seen the same kind offices rendered
without distinction to Catholic soldiers of the North and
South. The very opposite with Protestant chaplains and
soldiers.'

' What conclusion did you draw from this ? — these Cath-
olics are not Freemasons,' said the Bishop.

'Well,' replied the doctor, 'I drew this from it — that
there must be some wonderful unity in Catholicity which
nothing can destroy, not even the passions of war.'

' A very right inference,' was the Bishop's rejoinder.

An officer who was brought in wounded to an hospital
at Obanninville, near Pensacola, which was under the care
of Sisters, asked a friend in the same hospital what he
would call 'those women' — how address them? 'Call
them " Sisters," replied his friend. ' Sisters ! They are
no sisters of mine ; I should be sorry they were.' ' I tell
you, you will find them as good as sisters in the hour of
need.' 'I don't believe it,' muttered the surly patient.
Owing, in a great measure, to the care of his good nurses,

476 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the officer was soon able to leave the hospital strong in
body as well as improved in mind. Before he was well
enough to leave, he said to his friend, — ' Look here ! I was
always an enemy to the Catholic Church. I was led to
believe by the preachers that these Sisters — both nuns
and priests — were all bad. But when I get out of this,
I be God darned, if I don't knock the first man head over
heels who dares say a word against the Sisters in my pres-
ence ! ' He was rough, but thoroughly honest.

During the war, a number of the Sisters were on their
way to an hospital, to the care of which they had been
urgently called, and, as the train remained stationary at
one of the stopping-places on the route, their dress excited
the wonder and ridicule of some thoughtless idlers, who
entered the car and seated themselves opposite to, but
near, the objects of their curiosity, at whom they looked
and spoke in a manner far from complimentary. The
Sisters bore the annoyance unflinchingly. But there was
assistance nearer than they or their cowardly tormentors
supposed. A stout man, bronzed and bearded, who had
been sitting at one end of the car, quietly advanced, and
placing himself in front of the ill-mannered offenders,
said, 'Look here, my lads! You don't know who these
ladies are ; I do. And if you had been, like me, lying
sick and wounded on an hospital bed, and been tended
night and day by those ladies, as I was, you'd then know
them and respect them as well as I do. They are holy
women. And now, if you don't, every one. of you, at once
quit this car, I'll call the conductor, and have you turned
out ; and if you say one word more, I'll whip you all when
I have you outside.' The young fellows shrank away
abashed, as much perhaps at the justice of the rebuke as
at the evident power by which, if necessary, it would
have been rendered still more impressive.

It was a touching sight to witness the manner in which
soldiers who had experienced the devotedness of the Sisters

AN EMPHATIC REBUKE. 477

to the sad duties of the hospital, exhibited their veneration
for these 'holy women/ Did the Sisters happen to be in
the same car with the gallant fellows, there was not one of
them who did not proffer his place to the Sister, and who
did not feel honoured by her acceptance of it. Maimed,
lopped of limb, scarcely convalescent, still there was not u
crippled brave of them who would not eagerly solicit the
Sister to occupy the place he so much required for himself.
'Sister, do take my seat; it is the most comfortable/
' Oh, Sister, take mine ; do oblige me/ ' No, Sister ! mine/
Sweet was the Sister's reward as, in their feeble but earnest
tones of entreaty, and the smiles lighting up pale wan
faces, she read the deep gratitude of the men who had bled
for what each deemed to be the sacred cause of country.
Wherever the Sister went, she brought with her an atmo-
sphere of holiness. At the first sight of the little glazed
cap, or the flapping cornet, or the dark robe, or at the
whisper that the Sister was coming or present, even the
profane and the ribald were hushed into decent silence.

As a company of Confederate prisoners were marched
through Washington, a Sister of Mercy who was passing
was arrested by the exclamation, ' There she is ! That's
she ! I owe my life to her. She attended me in the hos-
pital. Oh, Sister ! ' The Sister approached, and as the
prisoners were passing, the one who used these words rap-
idly dropped something into her hand. It was less than
the widow's mite — it was a regimental button ! But it was
accepted in the spirit in which it was offered, as a memo-
rial ; and as such, I know, it is cherished.

A Baptist preacher was rather unexpectedly rebuked in
the midst of his congregation by one of its members who
had experience of the Sisters in the hospital. Addressing
his audience, he thought to enliven his discourse with the
customary spice — vigorous abuse of the Catholic Church,
and a lively description of the badness of nuns and priests ;
in fact, taking the Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk as his

478 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

text and inspiration. But just as the preacher, warming
with his own eloquence, was heightening his picture with
colours borrowed from a rather prurient imagination, these
strange words were thundered forth by a sturdy Western
farmer, who sprang to his legs in an impulse of uncon-
trollable indignation, — ' Sir, that's a damned lie ! ' The
consternation of the audience was great, the excitement
intense. The preacher solemnly reminded his erring
brother that that was 'the house of God.' 'Well, sir,'
replied the farmer, ' as it is the house of God, it is a lie
without the damned.' Then looking round boldly at the
meeting, which contained many to whom he was well
known, he thus continued : ' I thought and believed the
same as you thought and believed, because I was told so,
as you wrere ; but I have lived to learn the difference — to
know that what we were told, Sunday after Sunday, is not
true. I was in the prison at M'Dowall's College ; I was
there for six months ; and I saw the Sisters waiting on the
prisoners, and nursing the sick — unpaid and disinterested.
I saw them giving up their whole time to doing good, and
doing it without fee or reward. I saw the priests, too,
constant in their attendance — yes, shaming other ministers
by the manner in which they did their duty. That six
months cured me of my folly ; and I tell you, you know
me to be a man of truth, that the Catholic Church is not
the thing it is represented to be, and that Sisters and
Priests are not what our minister says they are ; and that
I'll stand to.'

The sympathies of the audience went with the earnest-
ness of the speaker, whose manner carried conviction to
their minds ; and so strongly did the tide of feeling flow
against the preacher, that he dexterously returned to what,
in Parliamentary phrase, may be described as ' the previous
question.'

Not very long before I visited a place in Tennessee, a
delegation from a district in which there was not a single

• WE WANT TO BECOME CATHOLICS.' 479

Catholic waited on an Irish priest of my acquaintance;
their object being to consult with him as to the feasibility
of building a Catholic church in the place. 'A Catholic
church ! ' exclaimed the priest ; ' what can you want of a
Catholic church, and not a Catholic in the place?' The
answer was remarkable : 'We here are all ex-soldiers, and
have been in the war; and when we returned, the preachers
• — Methodists, Presbyterians, and others — asked us to join
their churches, as before. We said nothing at the time, but
held a meeting, and sent this reply : " Before the war,
you told us that Catholics were capable of committing
every crime ; that priests and nuns were all bad alike.
We went to the war ; we were in hospitals, and we met
members of our own society there ; but the only persons
who did anything for us, or cared anything about us, were
these same Catholics, the Priests and Sisters that you so
represented to us. We were in the prisons of the North,
and it was the same. Now what you told us about Cath-
olics was not true. We can't have any further confidence
in you, and we will have nothing more to do with you. If
we be anything, we will be Catholics." That was our
reply ; and we now come to consult a Catholic priest, to
see how best we may carry out our intentions, and become
Catholics.

The above I give, not because it is the most remarkable
of such applications, which are very numerous, and are
constantly made in many dioceses throughout the States.
The majority of another such ' delegation ' told the bishop
on whom they waited that they had been strong Know
Nothings before the war ; and one of them declared that
he had assisted to ' tar and feather ' a priest, and that in
so doing he thought he was doing a service to God ! ' We
don't know what the doctrines of your Church are ; these
we desire to learn ; but though we don't know its doc-
trines, we have seen its conduct during the war, and that
conduct we admired.

480 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

That the Sisters — those truest exponents of Catholic
charity — win the respect of Protestants at other times
than during war, and in the ordinary discharge of their
duty, we have a proof in the following incident : —

The Archbishop of San Francisco and other Catholic
bishops were on their way to the Council of Baltimore ;
and as the bishops and the clergy by whom they were
acqompanied desired to have the use of an apartment or
cabin, in which Mass could be daily offered up, the
Archbishop made a request to that effect to the Captain
of the vessel, who thus replied : ' Archbishop, there are
twenty preachers on board who asked me to allow them
to preach, and I have refused them, because they would
create nothing but confusion. But, Archbishop, though
I am an Episcopalian, I am much obliged to you. The
yellow fever broke out in my crew, and my ministers de-
serted me ; but you sent the Sisters, and they came and
nursed my men all through their sickness. I never can
forget it ; and whatever I can do for a Catholic bishop or
for the Sisters, I will do most gladly. You shall have the
room, Archbishop.'

And as these words are written, the same terrible scourge
is thinning the ranks of the Sisters in New Orleans, many
of whom have fallen martyrs to their zeal and duty.

A Southern General said to me, 'The war has worn
away many a prejudice against Catholics, such was the
exemplary conduct of the priests in the camp and the
hospital, and the Christian attitude of the Church during
the whole of the struggle. Many kind and generous acts
were done by the priests to persecuted ladies, who now
tell with gratitude of their services. Wherever an asylum
was required, they found it for them. I wish all ministers
had been like the priests, and we might never have had
this war, or it would not have been so bitter as it was.'

I elsewhere mentioned the munificent gift made by two
Protestant gentlemen to a Sister in Cincinnati ; and as

SISTER ANTHONY. 481

that munificent gift — of a splendid hospital — is but one,
though a striking proof of the influence which the work
of the Sisters has had on the enlightened Protestant mind
of America, something may be said of the object of that
donation. There is nothing remarkable in the personal
appearance of Sister Anthony — nothing of the stately or
the majestic — nothing that harmonises with the romantic
or the j3oetical. Sister Anthony is sallow in complexion,
worn in feature, but with a bright intelligent look, and an
air of genuine goodness. Though thoroughly unaffected
in manner, and without the faintest trace of show, every
word she utters betrays an animating spirit of piety, an
ever-present consciousness of her mission — which is, to do
good. One feels better in her presence, lifted up, as it were,
into a purer and brighter atmosphere. In accent and man-
ner she is strongly American ; and had I not been assured
by herself that she was born in Ireland — somewhere, I be-
lieve, between Limerick and Tipperary — I should have taken
her for a 'full-blooded American/ that is, if Sister Anthony
could be taken for a 'full-blooded' anything. For a con-
siderable time Sister Anthony held a subordinate position,
to which she thoroughly adapted herself ; but it was im-
possible she could continue to conceal her great natural
ability and talents for organisation and management. Her
first important work was the establishment of the Hospital
of St. John, which became so famous and so popular under
her management, that the most distinguished physicians of
Cincinnati sent their patients to iier care. In this hospital
Sister Anthony made herself perfect in the science of nursing
the sick. When the war broke out, she, with twelve Sisters,
took charge of the Field Hospital of the Armies of the
Cumberland and the Tennessee, and nursed the wounded
and the sick in the South and South-West during its con-
tinuance. Such was the estimate formed of the services
of these and other Sisters of the same institution, as well
as of the Catholic Chaplains, that the Generals in coin-

21

482 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

raand frequently wrote to Archbishop Purcell, asking for
' more Priests and more Sisters, they were so full of devo-
tion to their duty.' Nearly all of those Sisters were, like
Sister Anthony, Irish. Her influence was immense. Even
the surliest official or strffest martinet could not resist
Sister Anthony. There was a contagion in her goodness.
Some years before, when in a subordinate capacity in the
Orphan Asylum under the care of her Order, Sister An-
thony was in the market, bargaining for chickens to make
broth for some sick children, when the salesman, perhaps
wearied of her importunity, said — 'If you were a pretty
woman, I'd talk to you longer ; but you are so darnd
ugly, you may go your ways, and take the chickens at your
own price.' Sister Anthony, who never gave a thought to
her personal appearance, good-humouredly accepted the
compliment which ensured her a profitable bargain for her
poor little chicks in the asylum. But the wounded sol-
dier on the hospital pallet was not of the fowl-merchant's
opinion ; the sick man saw everything good and beautiful
in the countenance of the nurse who smoothed his pillow
with hand light as a feather's weight, and, with voice
attuned to the tenderest compassion, won him to hope and
resignation. At the mere whisper of the name of Sister
Anthony, the eye of the invalid brightened, and a pale
flush stole over his wasted cheek ; and when it was men-
tioned in the presence of strong men, it was received with
a hearty blessing or a vigorous cheer. Protestant and
Catholic alike reverenced Sister Anthony. There was no
eulogium too exaggerated for her praise, or for their grati-
tude. She was styled ' the Ministering Angel of the Army
of the Tennessee,' and Protestants hailed her as ' an angel
of goodness.' And at a grand re-union, in November 1866,
of the generals and officers of the army in whose hospitals
Sister Anthony had served, her name was greeted with en-
thusiastic applause by gallant and grateful men.

The United States Marine Hospital, constructed at a

SISTER ANTHONY. 483

cost of a quarter of a million of dollars, was sold for
70,000 dollars, at which price it was purchased by two
Protestant gentlemen, and by them ' donated ' to Sister
Anthony, and is known by the beautiful and felicitous title
'the Hospital of the Good Samaritan.' This fine institu-
tion is now at the service of the sick and suffering of
Cincinnati. These generous Protestant gentlemen were
known to Sister Anthony, and she to them. Some tim&
before, it was her intention to build, and in the course of
a few months she obtained 30,000 dollars to aid her in
her task. But, changing her mind, from not wishing to
undertake so great a work as she at first contemplated, she
determined to refund every dollar of the money. When
she came to those two gentlemen, she tendered to them
their liberal subscription ; but they refused to accept it,
saying: 'No; we gave it to God. We cannot take it
back.5

Sister Anthony is not insensible to the influence she
exercises, as the following brief dialogue will show : —

Sister Anthony (to a friend). I guess I want this hospital

painted. I guess Mr. (mentioning the name of a

worthy citizen) will paint it.

Friend. Why, sister ! he is not a painter ; he is a
grocer.

Sister Anthony. I know that, child ; but he is a rich man,
and he will have to paint it.

And it was just as Sister Anthony said. He had to paint
it, and he felt honoured by the distinction conferred upon
him.

One day Sister Anthony was transacting some business
in the city with the prosperous owner of a large store.
When the business was concluded, the owner said : ' Sister,
where is your conveyance — your horse and buggy — to take
you up the hill?' 'I have no horse/ replied Sister
Anthony. ' Then I will get you a horse and buggy,' said
the store-keeper. 'The conveyance I have had for the

484 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

last fifty years is still very good, but the horses want
shoeing/ answered Sister Anthony, pointing to her shoes,
which were in the very last stage in which that article of
dress could possibly exist. A box of the best shoes was at
once supplied to Sister Anthony's well-employed ' horses.'

I present Sister Anthony only as a type, not of her own
noble Order, but of all kindred Orders ; for, throughout
the United States, there are hundreds of Sister Anthonys,
who, like her, have been styled 'ministering angels,' and
1 angels of goodness ; ' at the mention of whose honoured
names blessings rise from the hearts to the lips of grateful
men, and mothers in distant homes pray at night for those
who nursed their wounded sons in the hospital, or minis-
tered to them in the prison.

Whether in the hospital and the prison, qr on the field
of battle, the Catholic Chaplain won the respect of ah1
classes and ranks of men. I have heard soldiers of world-
wide fame speak with enthusiasm of the gallantry and
devotion of the Catholic Military Chaplains, who calmly
performed their duty amidst the fury of conflict, and while
bullets whistled by them, and shells shrieked as they
passed over their heads. The idea of danger may cross
the mind of the Catholic priest, but it never deters him
from the discharge of his duty, which is performed as
coolly on the battle-field as in the wards of an hospital.
Soldier of the Cross, he encounters danger in every form
and under every aspect. Without departing in 'the least
from his ordinary course, or making the slightest attempt
at display, the Catholic Priest — so long the object of the
foulest calumny and the most disgusting ribaldry — found
in the events of the war daily opportunities of exhibiting
himself in his true light ; and soon was suspicion changed
into confidence, and prejudice into respect. Unswerving
attention to duty is the grand characteristic of the Catholic
priest ; and when the non-Catholic officer or private found
the priest always at his post, attending on the sick, raising

THE CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN. 485

the drooping spirits of the patient, preparing the dying
for their last hour, he could not help contrasting the un-
tiring devotion of the Catholic Chaplain with the lax zeal
— if zeal it could be called — of too many of those who
assumed that office, or that distinctive title, during the
war. When men are stretched on a sick bed, and they
depend so entirely for assistance or relief on the attention
and kindness of those around them, they form rapid and
unerring estimates of merit ; and if they cannot be deceived
by the sham nurse or the worthless physician, neither
can they be hoodwinked by pharisaical cant or religious
pretension. The genuine metal was tested in the fire of
the crucible, and was admitted to be sterling.

Throughout the war the Catholic priest acted in the
spirit of his Church. The Church was a peace-maker,
not a partisan. So were her ministers. It little mattered
to the priest at which side the wounded soldier had
fought, or in what cause the prisoner had been made
captive ; it was sufficient for him to know that the sick
and the imprisoned stood in need of his assistance, which
he never failed to afford. The Church deplored the out-
break of war, mourned over its horrors, and prayed for its
cessation. As with the Church, so with the priest. It is
not in human nature to suppose that the Catholic priests
did not feel a sympathy with one side or the other ; but
no weakness common to humanity could deaden the feel-
ing of charity, which is the living principle of Catho-
licity; and while the Federal Chaplain ministered to the
Confederate soldier or prisoner, the Confederate Chaplain
ministered with equal care and solicitude to the soldier
who fought under the banner of the Union. This Catholic
charity — this spiritual bridging over of the yawning gulf
of raging passions — produced a deep impression on the
minds of thoughtful men. Many instances might be told
of the manner in which this feeling operated on the minds
of individuals ; one will suffice :

486 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

A lawyer of Louisiana was practising in Missouri at the
opening of the war ; and being known as a Confederate
sympathiser, was arrested, and sent as a prisoner to Fort
Warren, in Boston Harbor. He had studied law in
Boston, where he imagined he had made several lasting
friends of members of his profession. Taking means to
communicate with some of those on whom he most relied
for sympathy, if not for assistance, he informed them of
his position, and besought their aid, in the name of
friendship and the memory of the pleasant days of the
past ; but he appealed in vain — fear of being compromised
by a suspected rebel, or the bitter prejudice born of the
hour, was too strong to be overcome by a momentary im-
pulse ; and the prisoner languished in captivity. They —
the friends of his youth — came not; but an Irish priest
did. Attracted to the prisoner by feelings of compassion,
he comforted and consoled him, and assisted him to the
utmost of his means and influence. That lawyer learned
to love the Church of which that priest was a worthy
minister ; and his own words may throw light on his con-
version, which took place soon after : — 'Looking back
upon the war, I see that the Protestants of the North
were charitable to their own side, and that the Protestants
of the South were very charitable to their side ; but the
Catholics are the only body of Christians who practised
charity for its own sake, irrespective of politics, and who
did so even when it was unpopular, if not dangerous for
them to do so.'

The lawyer who languished in the prison of Boston
Harbor was not the only one who experienced the value
of a charity which has neither sect nor party, and knew no
difference between cause or banner in that hour of national
convulsion.

There was one other influence, potent in dispelling the
dark prejudices imbibed in infancy, and fostered by fana-
tical teachers ; this was the faith, the piety, the resignation

THE IRISH SOLDIER IN THE HOSPITAL. 487

of the Irish Catholic soldier, of whatever rank, as he lay
wounded or dying in the hospital. In the devotedness of
the Sister and the Priest there was a beautiful exemplifi-
cation of the spirit of Christian Charity ; in the unmur-
muring resignation of the Catholic Soldier there was the
irresistible evidence of Christian Faith. Many a proud
scoffer, to whom the very name of Catholic had been
odious, received his first impression of the truth from the
edifying demeanour of some Irish soldier who lay in
anguish by his side, and who, before he rushed into the
thickest of the fight, had not been ashamed to crave the
blessing of his priest. It was the same in the hospitals of
the States as in the hospitals of the Crimea.

188 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTEK XXVII.

Catholic Education—The Catholic Church in Advance of the
Age— Catholic Teaching favourable to Parental Authority-
Protestant confidence in true Catholics — The Liberal American
Protestant — Catholic Schools — The Sister in the School and the
Asylum— Protestant Confidence in Convent Schools— The Chris-
tian Brothers — Other Teaching Orders From the Camp to the

School.

FROM the earliest moment that a Catholic community
was gathered together in the United States, it "sought
to train its youth in the principles of religion. The history
of Catholic education in America would form a story of the
deepest interest to those who reverence steadfastness and
courage. It would record privations cheerfully endured,
poverty and want heroically disregarded. But the grand
object — the moral training of the young — successfully
advanced. The efforts of the clergy to promote this
essential object have been almost marvellous, considering
the difficulties of their position and the smallness of their
means, as well as the influences which opposed them ; but
the result would have been scanty and partial, were there
not the devotedness and self-sacrifice of holy women to
appeal to. The same spirit that impelled the Sister to
brave the perils of the fever shed and cholera ward gave
her fortitude to endure the drudgery of teaching in the
crowded school ; and, thanks alike to the energy of the
religious communities throughout the United States, and
the respect in which they and their work are held, female
education for Catholic youth is now provided for to a very
large extent. There is much more to be done, but vast
things have been already accomplished.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION. 489

The Catholic Church holds that religious education is
necessary for the children of its communion. Others may
hold different notions ; but this is its fixed and unalterable
belief. Nor is it singular in this respect. If it be a grave
error to consider that it is well to form and mould the
moral nature of youth, while you develop and strengthen
its intellectual faculties, that error is shared in common
with the most advanced nations of Europe, — Protestant
Prussia and Protestant England — Catholic Austria and
Catholic France. Fortunately for the future of the Irish

* According to the Prussian Constitution, adopted the 31st of January, 1850,
it is provided that 'in the management of the Public Schools the confessional
relations must be kept in view as much as possible.' By ' confessional relations '
are meant religious denominations. Three classes of schools are strictly de-
nominational,— Elementary Schools, Normal Schools, and Gymnasiums.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. There is no mixed school, save only in a locality
in which, from the smallness of the population, two schools cannot be main-
tained ; and in such case the faith of the children is rigidly protected. Each
Elementary School has a Local Inspector and a, School Committee. The Local
Inspector of the Catholic school is invariably the Parish Priest. The Head
Inspector is the Catholic Dean, tha district being coterminous with the eccle-
siastical division.

NORMAL SCHOOLS. These schools are for the teaching and training of
Teachers. There are, in Protestant Prussia, as in Protestant England, Catholic
Normal Schools for Catholics, as well as Protestant Normal Schools for Protes-
tants. In the Catholic School the President is a priest, and all the teachers
are Catholics. The President is appointed by the King ; but, before recom-
mending his appointment, the Minister is bound to consult, the Catholic Bishop of
the diocese, and to recommend a person fully approved by him.

The religious books in the Catholic Normal School are prescribed by the
Bishop ; and the class books in which matter dangerous to faith or morals
may possibly appear, are submitted to the Bishop, who has a veto on their
selection .

The pupil of the Catholic Normal School, though successful in examination,
cannot receive his or her 'patent,' or diploma, without the concurrent approbation
of the Government Commissioner and the Bishop.

The Gymnasiums are as strictly denominational as the Elementary and Normal
Schools.

Catholics are represented on the Education Board by a special member of the
Privy Council of the Minister of Public Instruction, who is the official organ of
the Catholics. The Collegiate system is, as yet, only approximating to the
same principle of strict and rigid impartiality ; but it is to be hoped the higher
educational institutions will, ere long, assimilate to those of the primary and
secondary classes.

So much for Protestant Prussia, whose National Education in its main
features, is very similar to that of Protestant England. We may now see in

490 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

in America, this is the belief of the best and greatest
portion of the Catholic population throughout the United
States. To obtain the advantages of strictly religious
training for their children, Catholics must of necessity
make large sacrifices. They have no option but to pay
the tax for the maintenance of the Public Schools, to
which all classes have free access, and in which all receive
a gratuitous and liberal education ; but while Catholics
pay their quota of the public rate, they assess themselves
voluntarily for the support of the schools of which their
Church approves. There have been unavoidable defects
in the Catholic schools in some districts, and under certain
circumstances ; it being difficult for a poor congregation,
that has everything to provide, everything to accomplish,
to vie with the State in the character and material of its

what manner a Catholic nation respects the conscientious convictions of the
minority of its population.

Of Catholic Austria, Mr. Kay, a recognised authority on matters of education,
and a Protestant, thus writes : —

'The most interesting and satisfactory feature of the Austrian system is the
great liberality with which the Government, although so staunch an adherent
and supporter of the Romanist priesthood, has treated the religious parties who
differ from themselves in their religious dogmas. It has been entirely owing to
this liberality, that neither the great number of the sects in Austria, nor the great
differences of their religious tenets, have hindered the work of the education of the
poor throughout the empire. Here, as elsewhere, it has been demonstrated that
such difficulties may be easily overcome, when a Government understands how to
raise a nation in civilisation, and wishes earnestly to do so.

'In those parishes of the Austrian empire where there are any dissenters from
the Romanist Church, the education of their children is not directed by the
priests, bu' is committed to the care of thf. dissenting ministers. These latter are
empowered and required by Government to provide for, to watch over, and to
promote the education of the children of their ovm sects, in the same manner as tho
priests are required to do for the education of their children.'

The same writer thus disposes of the alleged difficulty — some will say im-
possibility—of dealing with this great question on principles of strict and im-
partial justice to all. It is of Catholic States he now writes : —

'And yet in these countries — Austria, Bavaria, and the Rhine Provinces, and
the Catholic Swiss Cantons — the difficulties arising from religious differences
have been overcome, and all their children have been brought under the influence of
religious education without any religious party having been offended.'— KAY, voL ii,
page 3.

May not Young America learn a lesson, in this respect, from the modern
enlightenment of venerable but progressive Europe ?

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ADVANCE OF THE AGE. 491

schools. Defects there have been, and there must be for
a time ; but these have been wisely borne with, so long as
they were unavoidable ; for whatever inferiority there may
have been, or may still be, in one respect, it has been
more than compensated by immeasurably greater ad-
vantages. But these defects belong rather to the past,
and to parishes still in their first difficulties of church
building and other costly undertakings of a kindred
nature — not to parishes in which the main wants have
been provided for, or where the schools have been any
time established. On the contrary, there are numerous
instances in which the Catholic school is greatly superior
to the Public School, and where the Catholic college puts
to shame the most advanced of the educational institutions
of the State. Notwithstanding the stupid assertions of the
bigoted or the ignorant, the Church never did lag behind in
the mar ok of intellect ; it has ever put itself in the van of
the intellectual movement in every country.* It thoroughly
comprehends its position, its responsibility, and its duty ;
and while it is solicitous for the spiritual welfare of its
flock, it never disdains the task of fitting youth for the
practical business of daily life, and the varied pursuits and
duties of citizenship.

* Mr. Kay, whose anti-Catholic prejudice breathes in every page of his work,
thus refutes the old calumny against the Church : —

' In Catholic Germany, in France, and even in Italy, the education of the
common people in reading, writing, arithmetic, music, manners, and morals, is
at least as generally diffused and as faithfully promoted by the clerical body as
in Scotland. It is by thsir own advance, and not by keeping back the advance of the
jwojile, that the Popish priesthood of the present day seeks to keep ahead of the in-
tellectual progress of the community in Catholic lands; and they might perhaps
retort on our Presbyterian clergy, and ask if th»y too are, in their countries, at
the head of the intellectual movement of the age? Education is in reality not
only not suppressed, but is encouraged, by the Popish Church, and is a mighty
instrument in its hands, and ably used. In every street of Rome, for instance,
there are, at short distances, public primary schools for the education of the
children of the lower and middle classes in the neighbourhood Koine, with a
population of 158,000 souls, has 372 public primiry schools, with 482 fotcherr,
aud 14,000 children attending them. Has Edinburgh so many schools for the
instruction of these classes? I doubt it. Berlin, with a population about
double that of Rome, has only 264 schools. Rome has also her University, with
an average attendance of 600 students ; and the Papal States, with a population
of 2,500,000, contains 7 universities. Prussia, with a population of 14,000,000, has
but 7 '

This was written before the dismemberment of the Papal States by the Pope' <
ally, the Kins of Sardinia.

492 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

How eminently practical is the training given in America
under the auspices of the Catholic Church, may be under-
stood from the following description of the system adopted
in the schools of the Sisters of Mercy. The same system,
I may remark, is common to the religious communities of
the United States. The writer is a Sister of the Order of
Mercy, who thus writes to a friend, from a convent in
Missouri. The letter is dated the 3d of June 1867 : —

4 Two points of difference between our schools and the Public
' Schools I will note : with us, children of every class learn to work,
' devoting nearly two hours a day to it ; drawing is also taught iu
'connection with fancy work. We believe it of the greatest import
' ance to bring up our children to industrious habits, especially in a
' country like this, where reverses are so common, and where people
' are often so suddenly thrown upon their own resources. The public
' common schools never teach manual work of any kind — hence their
'pupils grow up with a sort of contempt for it, and, in case of family
' reverses, find it difficult to hit upon any honest way of earning a live-
'lihood. They are willing to take professions, but dislike much to
• apply to trades. Many Protestants of the more sensible classes send
' their children to us on this account. In some places the school
1 authorities have given several public schools to the Sisters of Mercy,
1 who now teach them in these ' — the places mentioned — ' and other
; places.'

The writer explains the other feature of interest, which
is of scarcely less importance : —

'We develop in our pupils a taste for useful and elegant reading,
' not always or necessarily religious, but in all cases perfectly unex-
' ceptionable. By thus cultivating their tastes, we hope to give them
'rational occupation for their leisure, and to hinder them from con-
'tracting a liking for foolish or pernicious reading. I need not tell
'you that the other schools do not take this precaution, and the
' consequence may be seen in the immense circulation of works of a
' deleterious character, which are eagerly read, even by children, and
' to which much of the crime so prevalent may be traced. Circulating
' libraries are established in common with our schools, sodalities, &c.'

'It is hard to bring up youth, especially boys, in thh
country,' has been the grave complaint of Irish fathers to
whom I spoke on this subject, or who themselves made

FAVOURABLE TO PARENTAL AUTHORITY. 41KJ

it one of anxious remark. This is felt more keenly by
parents who have reared children in the old country as
well as in America. In Ireland the family ties are strong
and enduring, while respect for parents and deference to
parental authority is the characteristic of the country
— of ah1 but the vicious and the worthless. The mind
of Ireland tends to moral conservatism, — it reverences
authority, eminently that of the parent or the pastor.
It is otherwise in America, whose institutions, no less
than the circumstances of a country yet in its early youth,
are favourable to the most complete personal independence.
When guided by reason, and controlled by the religious
principle, nobility of character and dignity of bearing
are the natural result of this consciousness of personal as
well as public freedom ; but without such controlling in-
fluences, this independence too often degenerates into a
manner and tone of thought which is neither admirable nor
attractive. The youth of the country rapidly catch the
prevailing spirit, and thus become impatient of restraint
at a period of life when restraint is indispensable to their
future well-being. This is peculiarly observable in the
youth who are educated in the Public Schools. The boy
who is trained in these institutions is too apt to disregard,
if not altogether despise, that authority which is held so
sacred in Ireland ; and once this first and holiest of all
influences is lost, on goes the headlong youth, reckless of
consequences, and the slave of every impulse. There is
nothing more graceful than modesty in youth, and that
proper respect which it manifests towards age and worth.
Self-esteem, not reverence, is the bump which the Public
School system of America — a system purely secular —
develops ; and of all the pupils gathered within the walls
of these schools, none are so quick to catch and i;eflect
the prevailing influence as the children of the Irish. The
young urchin of eight or ten is not a little proud of the
distinction of being a free and independent citizen of ihe

494 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Great Republic ; and it may be doubted if the pity which
he occasionally feels for his homely and unaffected Irish
father is not unconsciously tinctured with Native American
contempt for the * foreigner/ and the ' Pat.'

The Catholic Schools, on the contrary, inculcate obedi-
ence to parental authority — respect for the head of the
family — reverence for holy things, — for what is great and
good and noble ; while at the same time they carefully
prepare their pupils for the ordinary pursuits of life, and
fit them to make their way in the world, by honesty,
industry, and intelligence. They send the youth better
armed into the world to fight his way against difficulty
and temptation, and they give him a resource on which he
may fall back at every period of his future career. A
sound Catholic education affords the best protection against
the blight of indifferentism, which is a dangerous evil to
the Irish in America — to that portion of the population
whose conduct is most severely scrutinised, or who are
regarded, at least by some, and those not a few, with sus-
picion or dislike.

This system of education extends, while it secures, the
legitimate influence of the Church ; and that influence is
beneficial in a worldly and temporal point of view, as well
as in the inner life of the Catholic. Whatever the preju-
dice of a class of Americans, they are, on the whole, a
just and generous people, thoroughly alive to real merit,
and ready to appreciate and confide in it. They may not
admire the Catholic religion in the abstract ; they may
object to its tenets, or they may attribute to the Church
principles and a policy which have been, times without
number, repudiated and disproved; but they instinctively
admire and respect a Catholic who is not ashamed to admit
his loyalty to his creed, and who exhibits in his life and
conduct the influence of its teaching. There are in New
York, as in the other cities of America, merchants and
bankers and men of business who listen with grave atten-

PROTESTANT CONFIDENCE IN TRUE CATHOLICS. 495

tion, if not warm approval, to inflammatory harangues —
one cannot call them sermons, for a sermon suggests the
idea of a religious discourse — against 'Popery and its
abominations ; ' who will even join in a crusade against
Catholic franchises and freedom — who will contribute
largely, and even munificently, to the funds of some
aggressive organisation or hostile institution — who will
countenance a wrong done, if not to parental authority,
at least to religious liberty and Christian charity, in the
persons of miserable children, the victims of poverty or
neglect ; — but the same merchants, bankers, and men of
business will place implicit confidence in the honesty and
fidelity of Catholics — Irish Catholics too — whom they know
to be devoted to their Church, and constant in the perform-
ance of their religious duties. Nay, the very men who do
not hesitate to indulge in the common cant about priests
and confession, will privately enquire whether the Catholic
whom they employ attends his church, and complies with
its spiritual obligations. These men will place their banks,
their warehouses, their offices, their concerns, in the cus-
tody of humble Irishmen of the class who consider that
true fidelity to their native country includes unswerving
devotion to its ancient faith. In New York there are few
places of business which are not confided to the vigilant
custody of Irishmen of this stamp ; and rarely has this
confidence been violated. Money, documents, goods, valu-
able effects of all kinds, are constantly under their hands,
and at their mercy ; but no doubt arises as to the trust-
worthiness of the guardian or the safety of the property.
Probably, if the proprietor learned that the guardian of
his property had ceased to be a practical Catholic, his
confidence would not remain long unshaken ; and thus the
same man of experience and intellect who allowed himself
to be deluded by all manner of anti-Catholic nonsense,
would be the first to recognise, in his own interest, how
salutary was the influence of the Church over the con-

496 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

sciences of those who were faithful to its precepts. And,
in their quiet, humble unobtrusive way, the Irish Catholics
who live in accordance with the teachings of their Church
— who, steady, sober, diligent, faithful, are as solicitous for
the welfare of their employers as for their own advance-
ment,— Irishmen of this class not only maintain the honour
of their country and the truth of their religion, but do
much to remove prejudice, and bring about conversions.

The same applies to Irish Catholics of different classes,
and to women as well as men. Even bigoted mistresses
and employers will prefer the testimony of the Priest or
the Sister to all other testimonies as to the character and
conduct of a Catholic girl or woman, and will afford her
facilities to ' go to her duty ' — will even reproach her if
she appear to be lax or indifferent ; which, however, is not
common with Irish Catholic females. Thus, in a mere
worldly or temporal point of view, practical adherence to
their Church is beneficial to Catholics in America ; and to
Catholic teaching alone is this adherence — this noble yet
unobtrusive loyalty — to be looked for in the rising gene-
ration of that race whose fidelity to their faith has been
tested by centuries of persecution.

To provide what they rightly consider to be the best
education for their children, Catholics freely tax them-
selves; but among the generous contributors to Catholic
schools are American Protestants, who desire to promote
education wherever they can, and who recognise in Catho-
lic teaching a benefit to the community as well as to
the individual. They are specially pleased to witness the
attention bestowed by the clergy on the schools of their
parish, the pride they manifest in their improvement, and
the efforts they make to induce cleanliness of person, de-
cency of dress, and propriety of demeanour. It is custom-
ary for the priest to refuse admittance to the c hild unless it
is clean and properly clad, the priest knowing well that the
vice, not the poverty of the parent, is the cause of the

THE LIBERAL AMERICAN PROTESTANT. 497

condition of the child ; and very often the parent is thus
shamed into a sense of decency by the rebuke implied in
this refusal, and the child is soon fit to pass muster, and
to be received among the other children of the school.
The priest also tries to reach the parents through their
children, and frequently with signal success ; the growing
intelligence and modest piety of the child acts as a check
on the folly of the parent, and brings the indifferent or
the obdurate within the salutary influence of the Church.
What most impresses the liberal Protestant in his obser-
vation of Catholic schools is the paternal solicitude of the
pastor for the welfare of his young flock. And not only
will a really enlightened non-Catholic of any denomination
rarely refuse an application for assistance towards the ex-
tension of Catholic education, should such be made to him.,
but most frequently are voluntary offerings — and to a con-
siderable amount — made by Protestants who appreciate
the conscientious opposition of the Catholic clergy to any
system of training of youth which is not based upon
religion, and who witness the strenuous efforts they make
to raise the standard of teaching in their schools.

An unprejudiced observer — and there are perhaps more
of that class in America than in any country in the world —
will naturally say: 'The Catholic Church is responsible
' for the conduct and character of its flock — responsible
' to the world, as well as to God ; it must know what
'description of education is most suited to its youth —
'which system will make them better Christians, better
' men and women, better citizens. It is the oldest Church
'in the world, therefore the ripest in the wisdom of ex-
'perience ; and that experience convinces it that educa-
' tion based on religion — education which comprehends the
'spiritual and moral as well as the intellectual nature of
'the human being — that which strengthens and purifies
' the heart and moulds the conscience, while it develops
'the mind and stores the memory of the pupil — is that

498 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

'which is the best preparation for the battle of life. If
'then, the Catholic Church is held responsible — as un-
' doubtedly it is — for the character and conduct of those
* who call themselves Catholics, or are recognised as
'Catholics, why should it not adopt and insist upon hav-
' ing that system of instruction which it knows to be most
' conducive to the useful end at which it aims ? If we are
'not yet wise enough, or liberal enough, to assist them
'through the State, at least we should do so as indi-
' viduals.'

The educational resources of the Catholic Church of
America — meaning thereby the teachers, the buildings,
and the pecuniary means — are not as yet equal to the
daily-increasing requirements of the country; but though
they do not and cannot keep pace with the demand made
upon them, they are being steadily and even wondrously
developed. The teaching staff is deficient alone in num-
bers ; its energy, its zeal, and its efficiency are equal to
every legitimate effort. What can be done under the
circumstances is done, and admirably done ; but more
teachers and more schools and larger means are in many,
indeed most instances indispensable. For female schools,
and infant schools for both sexes, the American Church
can boast of a noble array of the Religious Orders, who
are carrying true civilisation into every quarter. Even
while an infant city is struggling into existence, beginning
to dot itself here and there with an odd building in red
brick, you see a convent ; and in the school attached you
hear the grateful hum of youthful voices. The religious
communities in America are numerous, but all are devoted
to works of active, practical usefulness, which even tlje most
sceptical must appreciate. Among this glorious army of
human benefactors — the most successful civihsers whom
the world knows — are the Orders of Charity and Mercy,
of Notre Dame, the Sacred Heart, the Ursulines, the
Presentation, Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, the

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS. 499

Holy Cross, of St. Joseph, of Providence, of the Visitation,
of Nazareth, of Loretto, of the Precious Blood, of the
Holy name of Jesus, and others known to the Catholics
of America. For male schools, of every class, the Church
enjoys the invaluable services of the world-famous Order
of Jesus, whose colleges, academies and schools cannot be
excelled by any educational establishments in the United
States. To these are added Sulpitians, Franciscans, Vin-
centians, Redemptorists, the Congregation of the Holy
Cross, and the Brothers of the Christian Schools. But
these, and others not particularised, though numerous and
zealous in the cause of Christian education, bear still but a
small proportion to the increasing demand for their teaching.
It is not necessary to give a detailed account of the
progress of Catholic education in America. Such is that
progress, that the description of to-day would not suffice
for to-morrow. Thus in the city of New York there are
now about 30,000 children receiving education in Catholic
schools ; but in all probability 40,000 would not fully
represent the number that may be in attendance at the
close of 1868. Somewhere about 1833, a single priest was
' attending Brooklin,' then regarded as a suburb of New
York; now there are not fewer than 12,000 Catholic
children in Catholic training in that populous city. In
places which have grown up within the last twenty years,
I found from 12,000 to 15,000 children under various
Religous Orders, notwithstanding that the Public Schools
were likewise in full and successful activity. And even in
small cities there were such numbers as 4,000 and 5,000
and 6,000, while the most strenuous efforts were made by
bishops and priests to extend their school accommodation
and increase the number of their pupils ; and in all cases
the majority of the children were Irish — either Irish born
or the offspring of Irish parents. The school that com-
mences with 300 soon expands into 500, and the 500
rapidly grow into 1,000 — and so on. In New York there

500 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

are parishes in which the attendance in their Catholic
schools is between 2,000 and 3,000; and in these parishes
efforts are still made to extend the blessings of the best
system of education to those who, perhaps of all other
children in the world, are destined to be tried by the most
dangerous temptations. I saw throughout the States large
and spacious schools growing up in every direction under
the auspices of the Church ; and I can remember how,
when visiting a Southern city, which was slowly rising
above the ashes of its desolation, I was impressed with the
zeal of the Catholics — mostly Irish — who were erecting a
fine female school, for 500 pupils, which was to be placed
under the care of Sisters.

Without a community of Sisters, no parish, no Catholic
community is properly provided for; with Sisters the
work of reformation is really begun. Themselves examples
of everything good and holy, gentle and refined, they soon
exercise a salutary influence over adults as well as child-
ren. And what can equal the patience of the Sister in
the daily drudgery of the crowded school ? It is something
wonderful, and can only be accounted for by the light in
which she regards her work — as a duty acceptable to God.
Whatever she does, her heart is in it ; the motive, object,
feeling — all exalt and render it sacred in her eyes. It is
the consciousness of the sacredness of the nun's vocation
that enables her to go through her laborious duties with
such unfailing regularity and such matchless cheerfulness
and patience. Entering any of the free schools of America,
one may see young Sisters, with the bloom of youth's
freshness on their cheek, as calm and unmoved amidst the
clatter and clamour of a school of some hundred girls or little
boys, as if that cheek had grown pale and worn with age.
I remember coming into a crowded school in a remote and
not over rich district ; the teaching staff was miserably
small, and each of the two Sisters had to instruct and
manage a disproportionately large number of young people.

THE SISTER IN THE SCHOOL AND THE ASYLUM. 501

As I raised the latch of the door of the boys' school — in
which there must have been seventy or eighty little fellows
of all ages, from four or five to twelve — the clatter was
prodigious. But as the door opened, and the stranger
entered, the spell of silence — unwonted silence — fell upon
the youthful students. The Sister was a young Irish-
woman ; and notwithstanding the calm serenity of her
countenance, and the cheerfulness of her manner, there
was something of weariness about her eyes — what one may
occasionally remark in the face of a fond mother of a
family on whom she doats, but who are nevertheless * too
much for her.' ' I am afraid, Sister,' I remarked, ' these
young gentlemen are a little difficult to manage at times?'
'Well, certainly, they are a little troublesome — occasion-
ally,' she replied ; ' but,' she added, as her glance roamed
round the school, and it rested on the familiar features of
so many loved ones, and her voice softened into the
sweetest tones, ' poor little fellows, they are very good on
the whole — indeed very good.' I did not remain long;
and as the door closed after me, I knew, by the splendid
clatter which was almost instantaneously renewed, that
the trials of the Sister had again begun.

If the patience of the Sister in the school-room is
admirable, what can be said of her devotion to the orphan
in the asylum? It is the compensation which religion
makes to the bereaved one for the loss of a mother's love.
The waifs and strays of society are cared for, watched
over with a solicitude which the natural love of a parent
can alone excel. I have seen many such asylums in
America — in the British Provinces as in the States.
Among those helpless little beings there is always one
who is sure to be, not better cared for or more beloved,
but the ' pet ' — a tiny toddler, who will cling in the Sister's
robe, or cry itself to sleep in her arms; or the 'prodigy'
of the riper, age of three or four — a young gentleman who,
after conquering his bashfulness, will dance an Irish jig, or

502 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

a negro breakdown, or recite a pretty pious verse, or sing
something comic enough to set all the children in a roar
of innocent delight, in which the Sister is sure to join. In
one of these asylums I remember to have seen, in the
centre of a large apartment, occupied as a day room by
the youngest children, a couch, on which lay a helpless
and hopeless infant cripple ; and how the poor little thing,
whose feeble tide of life was slowly ebbing, followed with
a look of pleasure and a faint sickly smile, the performance
of the infant prodigy. And no mother could have spoken
to that stricken child with a gentler voice, or watched over
it with a fonder 'solicitude, than the Sister, whom the in-
spiration of Faith had given to it as a second parent.

"While passing through various institutions under the
management of religious communities, the thought has
often struck me — that if those who entertain strange
notions as to the real character of these communities, had
the same opportunities as I have had, in Europe as in
America, of witnessing the daily drudgery of the Sisters
engaged in the laborious and wearisome task of education
— the services of the Sisters in the orphan asylum, the
prison, the penitentiary, the hospital — in visiting the sick,
protecting the unprotected female, teaching habits of in-
dustry and neatness, bringing back the erring and the
fallen to safety and penitence — in their daily life, in which
they exemplify the beauty and holiness of their mission —
how prejudice would vanish ! And how the good and the
enlightened would understand that if society loses the
advantage of the presence and influence of these holy
women in the ordinary paths of life, as sisters, wives, and
mothers, it is compensated a thousandfold by their services
in the training of youth, in the care of the orphan, in the
reclamation of the sinner, in the relief of the suffering —
nay, in the formation of the female mind on the solid
basis of piety, and preparing the young girl, whether the
daughter of affluence or the child of the people, for the

PROTESTANT CONFIDENCE IN CONVENT SCHOOLS. 603

fulfilment of her future duties, as wife and mother, as com-
panion or as guide.*

But whatever the prejudices of the ignorant or the
fanatical may be, the enlightened of America recognise
the value of the training which young girls receive in
schools conducted by members of religious communities —
by women who are accomplished, gentle, graceful, and
refined — who combine the highest intellectual cultivation
with genuine goodness. Protestants of all denominations,
and of strong religious convictions too, send their daugh-
ters to convent schools ; and, strange as it may appear to
one who visits America for the first time, more than half of
all the pupils educated in such institutions are the children
of non-Catholics ! Parents know that while under the care
of the Sisters their children are not exposed to risk or
danger — that they are morally safe ; and one may hear it
constantly remarked by Protestants that there is an inde-
finable 'something' in the manner of girls trained by
nuns which is immeasurably superior to the artificial fin-

* As an illustration of the great work done for society by the Religious
Orders in America, the good deeds of the community of a single institution—
that of the Sisters of Mercy, New York,— may be referred to. They visit the
sick in their homes as well as in the hospitals ; they instruct the criminal in the
prison, and prepare the condemned to meet their fate in penitence and re-
signation ; they minister to the necessities of the poor and the destitute ; and,
by care and instruction, they protect girls of good character from the dangers
which, in large cities, lie in the path of youth and inexperienced . They provide
servants with situations, and they teach the young. Though but eighteen
years in existence to the year 1864, they, up to that date, visited and relieved
7,083 sick poor, and paid 23,471 visits to the sick ; they visited at the City
Prison and Sing Sing 19,500 prisoners, and prepared 22 for the scaffold— that is
every Catholic who suffered the penalty of death during twenty years ; they
relieved 92,120 cases of distress ; they received into their House of Protection
9,504 young girls of good character, and they provided 16,869 with situations,
including those sent from the House of Protection ; they prepared 38,024 for
the Sacraments ; and they did a number of other good works, including noble
service in the military hospitals. Is not this a splendid record of work done for
society? And is it possible that it could have been as effectually done by a
hundred times the number of ladies having domestic engagements and worldly
ties? .Then it is well for society that there are those who will sacrifice for the
public good, though for their own spiritual advantage, what others prize— in a word,
that there are ' Sisters ' of various orders and denominations.

504 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ish of tie best secular academy or college. If the young'
Protestant pupil unwillingly enters the convent school,
she leaves it reluctantly ; and the influence of the impres-
sion it has left upon her mind is never lost in after life —
she knows how false are the accusations made against
convents and Catholics, and when others are prejudiced
or fanatical, she is tolerant and liberal. And for society
at large this conversion to common sense is a great gain.

What is true of convent schools, is equally true of
schools and colleges under the care of the great educational
Orders — Jesuits, Sulpitians, Vincentians, Eedemptorists,
Brothers of the Holy Cross, Christian Brothers, Francis-
cans, and others. Such indeed is the liberality of some
parents, that they formally declare their willingness to have
their children brought up in the Catholic faith. This has
more generally occurred since the war, which, as I have
already shown, triumphantly tested the wisdom of the
Church, as well as the nature and results of its teaching.

As the Brothers of the Christian Schools are amongst
the most successful promoters of Catholic education in
America, something may be said as to their progress.
They were first established some thirty years since in
Montreal, to which city they were invited by the Sulpi-
tians ; and last year, 1866, they had in Canada 19 houses,
170 Brothers, and 9,000 pupils. The first establishment
of the Order in the United States was in 1845, the next
in 1848 ; and in 1866 they were to be found in successful
operation in the chief cities of the Union — in which there
were, that year, 35 houses, 370 Brothers, and more than
20,000 pupils. This year, 1867, there is a considerable
increase of houses, brothers, and pupils. The Brothers
now exceed 400, and the pupils are fast rising to 30,000.

Besides parochial schools, which they teach with signal
success, the Brothers conduct several colleges, including
that at Manhattan, in New York ; St. Louis, Missouri ;
Kock Hill, Maryland ; and Kass, Mississippi. Of the 370

THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS. 505

Brothers who constituted in 1866 the strength of the
Order in the United States, 300 were either Irish, or of
Irish parents. And of the English-speaking Brothers in
Canada, the great majority are of the same race. Probably
in 1868 the number of Brothers in the States may be at
least 500 ; but were there 5,000, that number would not
be too many for the work to be done. There is in America
no lack of appreciation of the educational labours of the
Christian Brothers. With bishops and clergy the cry is,
' Give us more Brothers ' — ' Oh, if we had more brothers ! '
These men are the inheritors of one of the best educational
systems in the world ; and devoting themselves exclusively
to their self-imposed task, their success is necessarily great.
Their parochial schools vie with the Public Schools in the
excellence of their teaching — that is, in mere secular know-
ledge ; and their high schools, academies and colleges
rival any corresponding institutions supported by the State.
The proficiency of their pupils in the highest branches of
polite learning is the theme of admiration in journals of
the most marked Protestant character ; and enlightened
Americans of various denominations admit the services
which these men render to society through the influence
of their teaching on the rising youth of the country. The
Brothers are eminently practical; they thoroughly com-
prehend the spirit and genius of the American mind ; and
they so teach their pupils, of whatever class, rich or poor,
as to suit them to the position they are to occupy in life.

Perhaps the truest proof of the religious influence which
they exercise over their pupils is this — that wherever they
are any time established the Bishop of the diocese has less
difficulty in procuring candidates for the ministry. They
themselves are examples of self-denial and devotedness.
All men of intelligence, many full of energy and genius
— all capable of pushing their way in some one walk of
life or other — not a few certain to have risen to eminence
in the higher departments, had they dedicated themselves

606 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to the world and its pursuits; living a life almost of
privation, content with the barest pittance — what will, in
fact, afford them the merest means of existence — the
Brothers labour in their glorious vocation with a zeal and
enthusiasm which religion can alone inspire or alone ex-
plain. To the mind of generous youth the ambition of
rising in the world is natural and laudable, and in a new
and vast country like America, and under a constitution
which throws open the path of distinction to merit or to
courage, the world offers too many tempting attractions
to be resisted by the young and the ardent. Hence there
is a constant complaint on the part of Bishops of the want
of ' vocations ' for the priesthood. Indeed the latest ut-
terance on this subject, at once the gravest and most
authoritative, proceeds from the Second Plenary Council of
Baltimore. The Bishops say :—

'We continue to feel the want of zealous priests, in sufficient
number to supply the daily increasing necessities of our dioceses.
"While we are gratified to know that in some parts of our country
the number of youths who offer themselves for the Ecclesiastical
state is rapidly increasing, we are obliged to remark that in other
parts, notwithstanding all the efforts and sacrifices which have been
made for this object, and the extraordinary encouragements which
have been held out to youthful aspirants to the ministry in our
Preparatory and Theological Seminaries, the number of such as have
presented themselves and persevered in their vocations has hitherto
been lamentably small. Whatever may be the cause of this un-
willingness to enter the sacred ministry on the part of our youth, it
cannot be attributed to any deficiency of ours in such efforts as cir-
cumstances have enabled us to make. We fear that the fault lies, in
great part, with many parents, who, instead of fostering the desire,
so natural to the youthful heart, of dedicating itself to the service of
God's sanctuary, but too often impart to their children their own
worldly-mindedness, and seek to influence their choice of a state of
life by unduly exaggerating the difficulties and dangers of the priestly
calling, and painting in too glowing colours the advantage of a secular
life.

The 'some parts' referred to in the Pastoral Letter,
may signify those places in which the best provision has

OTHER TEACHING ORDERS. 507

been made for religious teaching, including those in which
the Christian Brothers have established their schools, and
have had time to exercise their influence on the mind and
heart of youth. It has been remarked that the influence
of their teaching is not alone manifested in their own im-
mediate pupils ; but that many young men who have never
frequented their schools, have felt themselves impelled to
a religious life by the example of a friend or companion
educated by the Brothers. Here then are grand results of
the successful labours of this Order : youth fitted to make
its way in the world, and fortified by the best influences,
if not wholly to resist, at least not to be a willing victim
to its temptations ; and young of higher and nobler pur-
pose induced to sacrifice the glittering attractions of the
world, for the self-denying and laborious life of the mis-
sionary priest.

The Third Order of St. Francis is rapidly growing in
strength and usefulness in the United States. It comprises
Priests, Brothers, Sisters, whose ordinary avocation is the
training of youth of both sexes, and ministering to the
sick and poor in hospitals. To the Archdiocese of Tuam,
Ireland, the Catholic church of America is indebted for
the Brothers of this Order, who have established several
communities, and conduct with great advantage academies
and parochial schools in various dioceses. In. 1847, Bishop
O'Connor, of Pittsburg,* obtained six brothers, who founded
some communities of the Order in his diocese, the principal
of which is Loretto, containing about forty brothers, who
conduct an extensive college in that city. This was the
origin of this Order in the United States. In 1858, Bishop
Loughlm of Brooklyn applied to the Archbishop of Tuam
for Brothers, and obtained two ; and in the diocese of

* One of the most accomplished and zealous of the Catholic bishops of
America, who did great things for the Church, but who— compelled by ill-health
to surrender his diocese to other hands— is now a simple Jesuit He is loved
und esteemed by all who know him; the writer venturing to include himself
among the number of those who regard this good man with sentiments of
uflectioo and esteem.

508 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Brooklyn there are now about thirty of the brotherhood,
conducting academies and parochial schools which are
largely attended. They have opened a mission in Los
Angelos, California, for the last four years ; they have
founded another in Elizabeth Port, New Jersey ; and this
year they have established a branch in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Thus has the good seed from the old Catholic country
fructified in this new domain of the Church.

As the educational necessities of Catholics increase, so in
the same or a greater proportion does the Church display
greater zeal and greater energy to supply the want. New
Orders are constantly springing up for new fields of spirit-
ual and intellectual labour. Thus the Congregation of the
Holy Cross, founded in France in 1856, and approved by
the Holy See in 1857, has established several flourishing
educational institutions in the United States ; its teaching
ranging from the simplest elementary instruction, up to
the very highest standard of collegiate requirements. The
Priests, who are called Salvatorists, from being specially
consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devote themselves
exclusively to missions and the education of youth. The
Brothers are devoted to the great work of religious in-
struction, with which, according to the circumstances and
the necessities of their pupils, is combined practical training
in various branches of industry. The Sisters, who are con-
secrated to the Sacred Heart of Mary, educate female youth
of all classes of society, and are also employed iu hospitals
and asylums. The Sisters already number more than 250
in the States.

Among the most prominent structures in New Orleans
are the great schools conducted by the Redemptorist
Fathers of that city; and among these good men is one-
all zeal, all energy, all ardour — whose name is venerated
in the South. Father Sheeran was one of the most de-
voted, not to say one of the bravest, of the Chaplains of
the Southern army. As cool under fire as the oldest cam-

FROM THE CAMP TO THE SCHOOL. 509

paigner, one glance from Father Sheeran's eye would send
the waverer dashing to the front. And now that, happily,
the sword is returned to the scabbard, and the generous
of North and South can meet again as brethren, if not as
friends, Father Sheeran is, with his fellow-priests, actively
engaged, indeed almost wholly engrossed, in the noble
work of Christian education ; which he and they promote
with such success, that 1,400 children — the children chiefly
of Irish parents — are educated in such a manner as to elicit
the warmest and most elaborate praise from Protestant
journalists. New Orleans possesses several important
educational institutions, academical and parochial ; but
that of the Redemptorists is remarkable because of the
well-known career of the famous Chaplain of the 14th
Louisiana Regiment.

510 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXVDX

Juvenile Reformation — Opposition to Catholic Reformatories —
The two Systems Illustrated — Christianity Meek and Loving —
The Work of the Enemy— Solemn Appeals to Catholic Duty.

IN their various institutions for the protection and re-
formation of juveniles, the Americans are keeping
pace with the enlightened spirit of European progress.
They wisely believe that prevention is less expensive than
cure — that, whatever their apparent costliness, precaution
and prevention are certain to be in the end more econo-
mical and more useful than punishment. They hold, with
all sensible men from the days of Solomon to our own,
that it is easier to incline the twig than bend the tree-
to direct the small stream into the right channel, than
to deal with the swollen torrent ; that if vice is to- be
effectually suppressed or diminished, you must begin with
the beginning. This is the belief and the policy of every
really enlightened man or woman of the Old World or the
New. In this spirit was founded the Colony of Mettray,
in France, and the juvenile reformatory of the Yigna Pia
in Eome, which, some ten years since, I beheld in active
and successful operation. It is in the same spirit that the
Catholic Church, now as in former ages, in America as in
Europe, gathers under her sheltering wing the orphan,
and the * half-orphan,' or the child in danger of ruin. The
calendar of the Church is resplendant with the names of
men and women whose lives have been devoted to the

JUVENILE REFORMATION. 611

sacred duty . which modern philanthropists and social
reformers are imitating at a long distance.

Unfortunately for the success of the Catholics of
America in this great work of juvenile reformation, their
resources, at least hitherto, have not been equal to meet
the evils arising from orphanage, or from the poverty, the
neglect, or the viciousness of parents. Thus a wide field
was left of necessity to those of a different communion-
but it is much to be deplored that the opportunity of doing
good was not always availed of in the right spirit, and
that the gratification of achieving an unworthy triumph
over a rival sect was preferred to the purer delight of
discharging a holy duty in the spirit of Christian charity.
In some few cases the work of reformation was taken up
in the right spirit — in a spirit of noble charity, and in the
loftiest sense of justice to one's neighbour ; but, alas for
poor fallible human nature ! in too many instances it was
entered upon as much from a motive of active hostility, as
from a desire to grapple with a social evil of admitted mag-
nitude and danger. No Catholic — especially no Irish
Catholic — could be insensible to the scandalous nature of
the war which, under the mask of benevolence and philan-
thropy, was waged against the children of poverty and the
victims of neglect. But, until lately, whether from want of
organisation, lack of means, or the urgency of other claims,
little was done, save through religious institutions, to
resist the fierce assault or the insidious approach of the
proselytiser. In the Pastoral Letter of the Second Plenary
Council of Baltimore, the Bishops of the American Church
thus refer to this question of vital moment : —

It is a melancholy fact, and a very humiliating avowal for us to
make, that a very large proportion of the idle and vicious youth of
our principal cities are the children of Catholic parents. Whether
from poverty or neglect, the ignorance in which so many parents are
involved as to the true nature of education, and of their duties as
Christian parents, or the associations which our youth so easily form
with those who encourage them to disregard parental admonition ;

612 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

certain it is, that a large number of Catholic parents either appear to
have no idea of the sanctity of the Christian family, and of the re-
sponsibility imposed on them of providing for the moral training of
their offspring, or fulfil this duty in a very imperfect manner. Day
after day, these unhappy children are caught in the commission of
petty crimes, which render them amenable to the public authorities ;
and, day after day, are they transferred by hundreds from the
sectarian reformatories in which they have been placed by the courts,
to distant localities, where they are brought up in ignorance of, and
most commonly in hostility to, the Religion in which they have been
baptised. The only remedy for this great and daily augmenting evil
is to provide Catholic Protectories or Industrial Schools, to which
such children may be sent ; and where, under the only influence that is
known to have really reached the roots of vice, the youthful culprit may
cease to do evil and learn to do good.

Practical efforts have been made to meet the evil ; and
in the cities of New York, Boston, and Baltimore, institu-
tions for the protection and reformation of criminal or
destitute children have been formed, and, though but a
short time in existence, are working with marked success,
with the approval of every liberal-minded Protestant of
those great centres of American civilisation. The dignified
and praiseworthy attitude taken by Catholics, in their
efforts to protect the faith of helpless little ones of their
own communion, and relieve themselves from a cause of
the gravest reproval, excited a storm of opposition from
those who had much rather know that Catholics deserted
their duty, and thus afforded their enemies the continued
power of injuring the right of despising them.

'In obtaining our charter,' say the conductors of the
New York institution, of which the late Dr. Ives, a distin-
guished convert, was president, ' we had to struggle against
two objections, urged with surprising zeal and pertinacity.
The first, that ample provision for vicious and destitute
children had already been made by the State, and that an
increase would only tend to injure the existing institutions.
The second, that these institutions were organised on the
fairest and most liberal basis, by excluding all distinctive

OPPOSITION TO CATHOLIC REFORMATORIES. 613

religion ; while the one whose incorporation we sought was
professedly sectarian in its character, being placed under
the exclusive control of Catholics.' To the first objection
they pleaded, what has since been fully admitted, the
enormous magnitude of the evil, and the inadequacy of
existing means to meet it ; and to the second, that if the
State had shown its fairness and liberality only by ex-
cluding, in fact, all distinctive religion from its institutions,
it was high time that one institution, at least, should
be organised on a different basis ; should professedly and
really make distinctive religion its actuating and control-
ling power, as nothing short of this could so sway the hearts
of children as to make them, in the end, good Christians
and good men. The absolute falsehood, in fact, of the
second objection is thus torn to shreds in the Keport : —

But the question was put: — ' Has the State succeeded in exclud-
ing from its institutions all distinctive religion, and all sectarian
teaching and influence ? Inquire at " The Juvenile Asylum," " The
House of Refuge," " The Children's Aid Society," " The Five Points
House of Industry" Is not the Protestant religion inculcated in these
institutions, and only the Catholic religion excluded? Where, among
the managers of all these institutions, is a Catholic to be found ?
Where, among their superintendents, their teachers, their preachers,
do you find a Catholic ? Where among their acts of worship is a
Catholic act tolerated? While, on the other hand, who does not
know, that Protestant worship, in all its various forms, is, without
opposition, introduced? And Protestant doctrine, in all its shades
and contradictions, is inculcated? Indeed, we did not find it necessary
to debate this question. Protestant periodicals not only admitted but
gloried in the facts. They boasted that the State is Protestant in all
her institutions, and that it is an act of great indulgence on her part,
that Catholicity is allowed to exist at all ; that we, as Catholics,
should be grateful that the power of the State has not been invoked
to arrest our progress and put an end to our institutions. Can it,
therefore, we enquired, be thought unreasonable, while such a spirit
actuates the Protestant community, that Catholic parents should be
averse to give up their children to Protestant institutions ; to institutions,
where Protestant dogmas and practices are enforced upon them ; and
where they are compelled to study books and listen to addresses in which
the religion of their fathers is reviled? We pressed the inquiry further,

614 ,THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and asked : Whether it was wise and statesman-like to introduce a system
of compulsion, where the rights of conscience are concerned? Where
the faith of Catholic parents is outraged by forcing Catholic children
into Protestant asylums? Whether peace and contentment in the
community are likely to be the result of such a system ? ' This was
the line of argument addressed to the Legislature, which, against
violent opposition, granted our charter.

One passage from the Report deserves special approval ;
and were the example which it offers generally adopted,
there would remain but little cause for anger or contention :
'A few children belonging to parents not Catholics have
been sent to us by the Courts. In such cases the children
are received, if the parents or guardians so request. If
they object, the children are returned to the magistrate. No
interference is allowed with the religious tenets of non-
Catholics employed at the Protectory.'

One of the institutions referred to in the foregoing Re-
port is the 'New York Juvenile Society.' In its Report
for 1863, there is a table stating the 'Religious instruc-
tion previous to commitment;' and the result for ten
years, from 1853 to the date of publication, is as follows :
' Roman Catholics, 5,210 ; Protestants, 3,933 ; Jewish, 67 ;
Unknown, 256— Total, 9,467.' So that the Catholics were
in a considerable majority of the whole. Now*, what be-
came of these 5,210 Catholic children, in an institution in
which, as the Catholics of New York stated before the
Legislature, no Catholic manager, superintendent, teacher,
or preacher, is tolerated, and from which- the Catholic
religion is the only one excluded ? In page 9 of the same
Report, we find these words : —

• The benefits of the course of training and education pursued in the
institution is seen, not only in the improved character of the children
returned to their parents, but alao in that of those sent to the West. To
how many children has been opened there a bright and prosperous
future! Scattered among the farm-houses of Illinois, they are mem-
bers of comfortable households, many of them adopted as sons and
daughters, and all in a land where competence is within the reach of
all, especially of those who begin there with an education fully equal
to that of the average of the farmer's children among whom they
dwell, and with whom they are prepared to keep pace.'

THE TWO SYSTEMS ILLUSTRATED. 615

It is scarcely necessary to enquire how many of the
5,210 Catholic children were 'returned to their parents,'
and how many were ' sent to the West.' It may be re-
marked that the ' Juvenile Asylum ' is only one of many
similar institutions. Another extract from the Report is
most suggestive : —

' But not the least valuable and interesting proofs of
success are the letters received from our young Emigrants
in their new spheres. These letters are often full of filial
love and gratitude to the teachers, who have been to them
as parents, and under whose kind care and guidance they
had their first experience of a happy life.'

There is no word here of the parent, possibly the widow
of an Irish soldier who died fighting in defence of the
Union, and whose boy got beyond her maternal control.
But in a letter published in the transactions of another
Association — the 'Children's Aid Society' of Baltimore —
the following production of a poor perverted child is
strangely published. It is here given as it appears in the
twenty-sixth page of the Eeport for 1866 : —

' TRANSFERRED.'

' When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take

me up.J
- ME. PALMER JULY 22nd, 1866.

' Respected Friend.

1 1 have been thinking of writing too you for some time, i am well
and i hope you are the same i like my home very much i went to
school four months last winter and had lots of fun, i had two slay
rides i would not be back to Mr. V.'s for any money the country is
beautiful up hear we have plenty of black berries, like the country
better than the city, idont care to know of my parents for i am better
off without knowing, philip and george are well they are both happy
and enjoy themselves very mutch in the country we wold all of us
like to see you very mutch come see us soon as you can. Philip lives
in the same house that i do and George lives right across the road
Mrs. C has a nice little boy only two years old i love him very mutch
i beleave I have told you all at present.

M.'

516 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.'

As a contrast to the teaching which, whatever the inten-
tion, had the effect of inducing a wretched child to write
that odious sentence — li dont care to know of my parents
for i am better off without knowing, — may be quoted an
extract from the first year's Report of the Association
established in Boston for the protection of Catholic child-
ren. It will commend itself to the mind of the Christian
and the heart of the parent : —

Next to their duty to Almighty God, the children are taught to
have regard to that which they owe to their parents. Even under
the old Law, God not only commanded, as a duty of eternal obliga-
tion, that children ' honour and succour their father and mother,' but
pronounced a fearful curse upon such as refused to comply ! While
it is a notorious fact, that in His providence, all those countries which
are characterised by a neglect of this command are sunk to the lowest
degradation ; and that just in proportion as a nation becomes truly
civilised, on the basis of Christianity, are the domestic relations ele-
vated and strengthened.

It has, therefore, been a matter of deep solicitude with the Mana-
gers, so to discharge their duty as that children may not be alienated
from their parents, or led to forget or disregard their obligations to
them. Hence in all those cases where children of parents able to
support them have been committed for the minor offences, we insist
upon returning them so soon as, in our judgment, it can safely be done.
In regard to many of this class of young delinquents, a few weeks
of strict but kind discipline is found as effectual in subduing their
tempers and restoring a spirit of filial obedience, as a much longer
period.

This will account for the number which have already been dis-
charged and sent home to their family.

The benefit of this policy is two-fold : it tends to strengthen the
family bond, and to promote the essential virtues of industry and
economy. For we have not only to avoid the serious evil of weaken-
ing the family tie by unnecessarily separating children from their
parents, but also to guard against, what is hardly less pernicious, the
mischief of taking away from these parents that main stimulus to
exertion, the necessity of providing for their own households.

From a serial, entitled ' The Little Wanderer's Friend,'
much information may de derived ; valuable as indicating
the spirit in which not a few of the so-called benevolent

CHRISTIANITY MEEK AND LOVING. 517

institutions are conducted, and the numerical extent of
their operations. From the number for May, 1865, an
interesting paragraph or two may be quoted, in illustration
of the liberal and tolerant spirit of those institutions of
which that agreeable little publication is the accredited
organ. A pleasant article, entitled ' The Heathen of New
York,' affords the writer a happy theme for the display
of his national feelings and religious convictions. * The
mass of the population,' the writer says, 'consists of the
most ignorant, bigoted, degraded foreign Catholics, who
know no higher law than the word of their priests. Their
Christianity is mere baptised heathenism.' Considering
the miserable condition in which the mass of the popu-
lation are found by the writer, it is fortunate that spiritual
succour is so near ; for we have this consolatory assurance
in the same article : — ' We are in the midst of it. Our
1 mission is in front of one of their large churches — under
' the shadow of their cross. They listen to our songs,
' while we witness their idolatry. They curse while ice
' gather in the children, teach them the truth, feed, clothe,
{ and send them to kind Christian homes.' The mission-
aries, of whom the writer is the faithful organ and elo-
quent mouthpiece, are not content with their limited
sphere of action in front of one of the large churches of
the ' baptised heathen ' of New York : they must even
meet them on the shore, or on the ship's deck ; and thus,
if they cannot arrest the in-flowing tide of emigration, at
least, by extending the hand of brotherly love and the
word of God to their poor misguided brethren who cross
the ocean, convert it into a deluge of enriching blessedness.
'Last year 155,223 persons landed here from Europe, of
' whom 92)861 were from poor, ignorant, bigoted, Catholic-
' cursed Ireland.' In this manner these unhappy heathens
are to be spiritually regenerated : ' Let us meet them ere
* they leave the ship, and extend to them the kind hand
' and the word of God. They are our misguided brothers,

518 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

'Let us be kind and teach them the truth. Let us help
'the needy and teach them the truth. Let us gather the
'children in' The children are always the objects of
the pious solicitude of these apostolic missionaries ; they
first gather them in, and they then send them to 'kind
Christian homes/ in which all memory of their former
'heathenism' is lost. The success of their operations is
thus detailed in their own words : —

The Home for the Friendless

Led off in this work, and for about thirty years has opened its arms
and embraced perishing infancy and neglected childhood ! But how
little has it done compared with the work yet remaining ! Encouraged
by its success, a few warm-hearted Methodist ladies organised the

Five Points Mission.

They entered the ' gates of hell ' to save the perishing ; and a
glorious monument to Christianity has been erected. Steadily,
earnestly, and successfully do they labour, but want, sin, and woe
increase around them.

The Five Points House of Industry.

Was originated in 1851 by Rev. Mr. Pease, and 'its fame has gone
throughout the country.' After years of struggling he was compelled
to seek quiet and rest. Mr. Barlow took his place, and, with an
earnestness which sought to imitate Him. concerning whom it was
said ' the zeal of thine, house hath eaten me np,' he laboured until
called to exchange — 'sowing in tears' for 'reaping in joy' — to give
up his abode in ' Cow Bay ' for the ' place ' which Jesus said ' I go to
prepare for you.' Each year the work increases, and, although since
1851 over 11,000 have come under their care, many of whom have been
saved, yet, to a stranger, it seems as if Christianity had done nothing.

The Children's Aid 'Society,

Under the direction of Mr. Brace, with its Industrial Schools-
lodging rooms — boys' meetings — has gathered in and sent to homes more
children than any other institution in the world during the last eight or.
nine years, yet a stranger could not perceive a ripple upon the surface
of this sea of sin and want.

THE WORK OF THE ENEMY. 519

Our Own Work.

Has been so constantly kept before the public that it seems almost
useless to speak of it. Four years ago this Home for Little Wanderers
was opened, and nearly 1,000 children gathered in the first year. The
next year 1,224, and the last year 1,543.

With such success attending their efforts, the reader
will learn without astonishment that these modern Apostles
to the Gentiles are not discouraged ; they only want more
faithful praying Sunday School teachers, and four more
earnest Christian men as Missionaries. ' Our hands are
'tied,' cries the figurative yet eminently practical organ
of the Mission. ' Four hundred and fifty cords bind
'us. Reader will you cut one of them? We mean, will
'you be one of the 450 who will give or collect from your
' Sunday School or friends, and send us $1 per week until
' May 1866, and thus leave us free from all pecuniary
' anxiety, and with nothing to do but to gather the
' children in.'

It has been computed that, at a low calculation, 30,000
children of Catholic parents, mostly Irish, have been sent
to ' kind Christian homes,' through ' Sectarian Reform-
atories,' and institutions of a kindred spirit. I have
heard 50,000 given as a possible average ; and considering
that one institution lately boasted of having sent 10,000
Catholic children to the West, the number, though great,
is not altogether improbable. Children are at a premium
in the West, especially if healthy and robust ; and dealing
in this description of 'live stock' is not by any means a
losing speculation. I was confidently informed that thirty
children — one a plump infant of a year and-a-half — had
been sold, in Michigan, to the highest bidder, not two
years previous to the time at which the circumstance was
mentioned to me. The children must be disposed of in
one way or other ; and if a profit can be made for the
institution, or for the individual, through the keen rivalry

520 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of Western farmers, who look approvingly at the sturdy
thews and sinews and strong limbs of a brawny young
' heathen ' of Irish birth or blood, who can be uncon-
scionable enough to object to an operation so legitimate,
or so strictly in accordance with the entire system of — kid-
napping may be too rude a term to apply to such institu-
tions and such men, — so we shall say, of gathering little
children in ?

"Whatever this system may be to those engaged in it — a
system, we may remark, totally repugnant to the spirit of
modern legislation in this country, where there are indus-
trial and reformatory institutions purposely denomin-
ational in character, with the view of protecting the faith
of the most helpless class of the community — its longer
tolerance by the Catholics of America, and in a special
manner by those of Irish birth or descent, would be in the
last degree shameful and discreditable. Allowance must
be made for the difficulties of their position hitherto, owing
to the many claims upon their means, and the various
works which it was the duty of the Catholic Church to
undertake ; but they are now too numerous, too powerful,
and too influential, to submit to the continuance of that
which is degrading to them as Catholics, and deeply dis-
honouring to them as Irishmen. There can be no mincing
terms as to what is their manifest duty. The past, with
all its bitterness and shame, is irrevocable ; but there is
the present as well as the future, and if they cannot restore
the faith to those who have lost it — not through the
worthiest or most honourable means — they should at least
take care themselves to gather in, under the shelter of the
Church, the miserable victims of poverty, neglect, and
vice, and restore them to society as good Christians and
useful citizens. The wide influence of Catholic Schools
will do much to counteract the evil ; but the general
imitation of the good work so auspiciously commenced in
New York, and Boston, and Baltimore, will prove the

SOLEMN APPEALS TO CATHOLIC DUTY. 621

readiest and most direct means of redeeming the honour
of the Catholics of America ; at the same time affording
benevolent people of other communities an undisturbed
opportunity of attending to their own criminal or destitute
children.

The Pastoral Letter of the Plenary Council of 1866,
thus refers to this subject : —

We rejoice that in some of our dioceses — would that we could say
in all! — a beginning has been made in this good work, and we cannot
too earnestly exhort our Venerable Brethren of the Clergy to bring
this matter before their respective flocks, to endeavour to impress on
Christian parents the duty of guarding their children from the evils
above referred to, and to invite them to make persevering and effectual
efforts for the establishment of institutions wherein, under the influ-
ence of religious teachers, the waywardness of youth may be corrected
and good seed planted in the soil in which, while men slept, the enemy
had sowed tares.

These solemn and hopeful words, addressed to a Catholic
audience at New York, in 1864, by the late Dr. Ives — one
of the most illustrious converts to the Church in America,
and the master-spirit of the reformatory movement — may
be listened to as to a voice from the tomb : * But, whatever
the State may do, the duty of Catholics is plain, and will
be done. The probability of failure in this great under-
taking cannot be admitted. Dark as the day is, and heavy
as are its burdens, Catholics will be found equal to them.
The work in our hands will succeed; it is God's work —
dictated by His spirit, demanded by His providence,
undertaken in His name, carried on in His strength and
for His glory. I feel that it is no presumption to affirm
that it will not fail'

522 THE IRISH IN AMERICA,

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore— Protestant Tribute
to the Catholic Church — Progress of Catholicity — Instances of
its Progress — The Past and the Present — The Church in Chicago
and New York — Catholicity in Boston — Anticipations not Real-
ised — Number of Catholics in the States — Circumstances of
Protestant and Catholic Emigrant Different — Loss of Faith and
Indifferentism.

the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore the Catholic
Church of America presented a singularly grand and
imposing spectacle. Barely has Rome herself witnessed
a more august assembly, and, more rarely still, one so re-
markable in its character. Even in numbers — according to
Archbishop Spalding, its venerable President — it was the
largest ever held in Christendom since the Council of Trent,
with the exception of two or three held at Rome under the
Sovereign Pontiff. But though this assemblage of the
Spiritual Chiefs of this young and vigorous branch of the
Universal Church consisted of seven Archbishops, thirty-
eight Bishops, and three Mitred Abbots — in all, forty-nine
Mitred Prelates — it was more remarkable for the wisdom
and dignity, and weight of character, of the learned and
able men of whom it was composed; and still more so for the
unbroken unity which it presented in so brief a period after
the termination of the deadliest struggle that ever con-
vulsed a country or rent a people asunder. The wonderful
progress of the Church, which this majestic assembly made
manifest even to the. dull or the unbelieving, was a subject
of surprise to friends as to enemies ; but its unbroken unity,
while a cause of confusion to some, who contrasted with it
the several branches of their own distracted churches, was

THE SECOND PLENARY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE. 623

regarded without astonishment by those who either under-
stood the principles of Catholicity, or watched the conduct
of the Church during the war.

Fourteen years before, the First Plenary Council of Bal-
timore was held ; since then there had been added to the
Catholic hierarchy one Archbishop and fourteen Bishops ;
and now, from the Second Plenary Council, there goes
forth an appeal to Rome for the creation of fourteen addi-
tional Bishops ! In the Pastoral Letter they say : * "We
have also recommended to the Holy See the erection of
several additional Episcopal Sees, and Vicariates Apostolic,
which are made necessary by our rapidly increasing Catho-
lic population, and the great territorial extent of many of
our present Dioceses.'

In the same Pastoral, the progress of the Church is
thus indicated : ' We continue to have great consolation in
witnessing the advance of Religion throughout the various
dioceses, as shown in the multiplication and improved
architectural character of our churches, the increase of
piety in the various congregations, and the numerous con-
versions of so many who have sacrificed early prejudices
and every consideration of their temporal interests and
human feelings at the shrine of Catholic Truth.'

The constitution of this august assembly of wise and
learned men is not without interest, even as affording
a further illustration of the universality of the Ca lolic
Church. In the division into nationalities we find the
Irish element stronger than would at first appear. Of the
forty-nine Mitred Prelates who, with the clergy, composed
the Council, sixteen are set down as American, nine Irish,
twelve French, two Flemish, three Spanish, two Swiss, one
Austrian, and two German. But of the sixteen American
Prelates, about one-half are of Irish blood — nearly all
of these the sons of Irish-born parents. Thus fully two-
thirds of the English-speaking Bishops of the American
Church owe their origin to that country which is now, as

524 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

it was in remote ages, the most successful propagandist of
Catholicity.* Sprung from different branches of the hu-
man family, representing different races, speaking in differ-
ent tongues, gathered together from States and territories
separated by thousands of miles, they were animated but
by one motive and feeling. When replying to the address
presented to him by Archbishop Purcell in the name of
the assembled Prelates and Clergy, Archbishop Spalding
puts this point prominently forward : —

' Here we have venerable Prelates from all parts of this great and
vast republic, some of whom have come five or six thousand miles ;
have come at my voice, because in my voice they recognised the voice
of Peter and of Christ. . . . We came together to devise ways and means

* There was missed from the assembly this long-familiar face of one who,
meek and mild* and gentle, had for three-and-thirty years shed the steady light
of his wisdom on the councils of his venerable brethren of the American epis-
copacy. Three years before, Francis Patrick Kenrick departed this life, after a
long and honoured career. A great Irishman, Archbishop Kenrick was not so
famous in the world as his countrymen. Bishop England and Archbishop Hughes ;
but if he lacked their shining qualities, their stirring eloquence, and the bold-
ness and energy by which they were distinguished, he was eminent not only
for the sweetest and gentlest nature, the most modest and humble disposition,
but for a scholarship as rare as it was profound. When he was consecrated, in
1833, the American Church was in its infancy, its following scarcely amounting
to the one-twentieth of its present magnitude. As Bishop of Philadelphia he
had his full share of trial and tribulation during the long years of early struggle,
of active hostility and occasional persecution, aggravated by the evil of in-
ternal dissension ; but he did not close his eyes to this world until he beheld the
wonderful progress of the Church which he so signally served, and so strikingly
adorned by his virtues. Notwithstanding his unceasing devotion to the duties
of his exalted office, whether as Bishop of Philadelphia or Archbishop of Balti-
more, he found time to enrich Catholic literature with many of the most
valuable works that could find a place in the library of a layman or an eccle-
siastic. Besides an exhaustive Treatise on the Primacy, and a Course of The-
ology, highly estimated by professors as well as students, he translated and
annotated the b'acred Scriptures ; and the most competent judges admit this
his greatest work to be a model of the most varied and profound erudition.
But, though as simple and unpretending as a child, though modest and gentle,
he could be as stern as brass when duty required, and principle was at stake.
Bishop Hughes himself could not have more boldly faced the contumacious
of his flock than did Bishop Kenrick beard and conquer the presumptuous
trustees of Pittsburg.

'The church is yours,' he &aid to them, from the pulpit of St. Patrick's. 'You
have a perfect right to do what you please with it. I claim no right to inter-
fere with any appropriation of it you wish to make. You may make of it, if you
will, a factory, and I will not interfere. But there is one thing which I do tell
you, and it is this : if you wish it to be a Catholic church, you must comply
with the requirement of the law which I have laid before you. Now, do as you
please. '

To the zeal, energy, and wisdom of Dr. Kenrick are the Irish of the diocese
of Philadelphia to a considerable extent indebted for the spiritual advantages
they now so abundantly eujoy.

PROTESTANT TRIBUTE TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 525

to carry out the purpose for which Christ died on the Cross, to save
men. to bind them together in unity and charity, and to make them
lead holy lives. Absorbed in this great object, we have soared far
above the regions of storms and clouds into the pure atmosphere of
God, where there is no controversy or contention stirred up by human
passion ; and men sprung from various nations, in this Council, have
lost sight of all differences of nationality and temperament, and have
blended in that beautiful unity and harmony which the Catholic
Church can alone exhibit.

The assembling of the Council elicited from an able
newspaper of Baltimore,* a testimony to the conduct of the
Catholic Church, which thoroughly represents what I have
heard expressed in more than a hundred instances through-
out the States. I find it quoted, among other articles
from the public press, in the volume containing the official
record of this memorable manifestation of the progress
of the Church. I know it represents the almost universal
feeling of the South, and of all but the extreme or violent
of the North :—

But while we do not propose to enter upon a theme so nearly
boundless, and involving so many considerations which divide the
minds of men, it is but appropriate to the occasion, and it certainly
is a pleasure to us to say. that the course of the Clergy of the Roman
Catholic Church, during our late civil dissensions, will make this
demonstration of its vitality and vigour very welcome to multitudes,
who, but a little while ago, would have witnessed it with jealous
concern. With but few exceptions — and those chiefly noted for their
rarity — the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Commnnion have kept
their hands clean of brothers' blood. They have preached only the
Gospel, and the great doctrines of peace and good will on which it
rests, and have not sullied their altars with fratricidal emblems, or
turned their anthems of praise into songs of hate and war. In the
camps of both armies they were ministers of God only, and faithful
to their high calling amid the terrors of the battle-field and the
dangers of the pest house and the hospital ; they dedicated them-
selves exclusively to the alleviation of bodily suffering and the gentle
and holy ministering* of religious consolation. It is for this that men

* The Gvze'te of the 8th of October, 1866. The article, with others, is published
with the proceedings of the Council, in a neat volume by Kelly & Piet of Baltimore,
with the approval of the Archbishop.

626 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

reverence them to-day, who, ten years ago, would have been prompted
by prejudice to revile them. It is for this that the Church, whose
ministers they are, is recognised now by thousands who dispute its
creed as a worthy depository and teacher of the sacred truths which,
in making men Christians, make them love one another. In all the
proud annals of the Church of Rome there is no prouder page than
that which records her purity and steadfastness and independence — her
indifference alike to the threats and seductions of power during the
Confederate Revolution.

Seduction could not betray the Church from the straight
path of her duty ; and to threats, though backed by the
power of armed legions, she opposed that same sublime
'Non possumus' by which the Sovereign Pontiff has so
persistently baffled the wiles of political intriguers, and
resisted the fiercest rage of the enemies of the Papacy.
'We cannot do this evil thing — we cannot prostitute our
'pulpits to the worst passions of man — we, ministers of
'peace, cannot preach havoc and slaughter — we cannot
' desecrate God's temple by substituting for the Cross the
' banner of human strife.' This was the Non Possumus of
the American Church. Two Prelates — one of them of the
most eminent rank — were called on during the great
struggle to exhibit this courage, in which the Catholic
Church has ever excelled. To the order of a general, high
in command, that a flag should be displayed on his cathe-
dral, the Archbishop, a meek and saintly man, replied in
the spirit of the old Roman — had that old Roman been a
Christian — 'My banner is there already; that banner is
the Cross of Christ — none other shall be there, with my
consent.' Coarse threats were used in the second instance,
and even personal violence was not altogether improbable ;
but the undismayed Prelate, a man of lofty stature, drew
himself up to his full height, and, as he seemed to fill the
entrance to his cathedral with his swelling form, he ex-
claimed to those who were rudely pushing on — 'Then, if
you attempt to pass, it must be over my dead body ; for
so long as I live, no war flag shall desecrate the house of

PROGRESS OF CATHOLICITY. 527

God.' The Clergy caught the spirit of their bishops, and
displayed a quiet resistance to the requirements of vehe-
ment partisans which was little short of heroic. Thus, in
a moment of the severest trial did the Catholic Church of
America maintain a strict neutrality, increase and extend
her means of usefulness, and secure the respect of those
who admire consistency, or who deplored the disastrous
consequence of a war which they were powerless to prevent.

Those who look, as I do, to the present and continuous
progress of the Catholic Church as that which most inti-
mately concerns and most deeply involves the future of
the Irish in America, cannot but regard that progress with
feelings of the keenest satisfaction. Though not yet equal
to the unparalleled increase of the Catholic population, it
is sufficiently so to prevent that loss of faith of which so
much has been said, too often in a spirit of exaggera-
tion, and to counteract that tendency to indifferentism
which is unhappily to be met with in the States. Since
1861 the progress of the Church has been literally mar-
vellous. Thus, while in 1861 the number of Priests was
2,317, and the churches 2,519, the number of Priests in
1867 is 3,252, and the number of churches 3,500— an
increase of nearly 1,000 priests and 1,000 churches in
these few years. In the course of the following year there
will be about 60 dioceses in the United States ; probably
in ten years after there will be a necessity for 20 additional
sees ; and those who live to the year 1900 may behold
100 Mitred Prelates of the Catholic Church of America
assembled, if not in the Cathedral of Baltimore, possibly
in one of those gorgeous temples which are now rising in
the centres of vast Catholic populations, and for rivals to
which one must look to France, or Germany, or Italy — to
some of those majestic monuments of piety erected by a
Prince or a People, a Monarch or a Pope.

A few examples illustrative of individual Dioceses or
States will afford a better idea of the general progress of

528 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the Church than a summary of the result conveyed in a
mere 'total.' Take, for instance, the Diocese of Milwau-
kee, comprising the State of Wisconsin.

Up to the year 1834 Milwaukee was the exclusive home
of the Eed Indian ; when in that year a French Canadian,
who is now about ten years dead, settled there, as a trader
in furs. This first white settler was justly called the
father of the city that soon after rose on the shore of Lake
Michigan, and the founder of the Church of which he was
the earliest and most liberal benefactor. It was not until
towards the year 1837 that the Catholics of Milwaukee had
the services of a priest permanently settled in that city.
The Eev. Patrick Kelly then became the pastor of some
thirty souls. In 1839 the first church was erected in
Milwaukee, and was the only church in the entire of the
Territory, since the State, of Wisconsin. In 1840 the
population of the rising city was about 2,000, the Catholics
being then one-third of the whole. In March 1844 the
diocese of Milwaukee was erected, the Bight Rev. John
Martin Henni being appointed Bishop. The Bishop found
in his vast diocese a Catholic flock of 20,000, scattered in
every direction, twenty churches, most of them of the
rudest construction, and two priests — the Rev. Martin
Kunclig and the Rev. Thomas Morissey. But behold the
wonderful change effected in a few years, the result of
European emigration. Where there were 20 so-called
churches in 1844, there are now 322 churches, 16 chapels,
and 75 stations ; and where there were but 2 priests, there
are now 163 — besides 2 ecclesiastical seminaries, 2 male
academies, 6 female academies, 8 religious communities,
and 5 charitable institutions, with a Catholic population,
mostly Irish and German, of 400,000. As an illustration
of the amazing growth of religious institutions in the
fruitful soil of the West, the development of a single one, —
that of the Order of ' Notre Dame,' — might be cited. It is
not more than sixteen years since four Sisters of this famous

INSTANCES OF THE PROGRESS OF CATHOLICITY. 529

order founded a house in Milwaukee, — the first house in the
States ; and now the Order is represented by 58 convents
in different parts of the Union, and nearly 500 Sisters,
who educate and train more than 20,000 children. In the
month of August, 1867, 60 ladies received the white veil
and 38 received the black veil, in the mother house
of Milwaukee. Besides the Order of Notre Dame, the
diocese enjoys the services of Sisters of the Dominican
and Franciscan Orders. For this wonderful progress of
the Church and growth of religious institutions, 'we are,
under the blessing of God, indebted to the zeal, untiring
energy, and good judgment of our venerable and beloved
bishop,' writes an excellent Irishman, who has risen to
high honour in the city of his adoption. As a finish to
this picture, it may be added, that the assembled bishops
of the Council of Baltimore recommended the division of
the State of Wisconsin into three dioceses, with Milwaukee
as an Archiepiscopal see.

Brooklyn, which in 1834 was attended by a single priest,
has now twenty-four or twenty-five churches in the city
alone, with at least 12,000 children educated under the
care of religious Orders — of Mercy, Charity, St. Dominic,
the Visitation, St. Joseph, Sisters of the Poor, Christian
Brothers, and Brothers of St. Francis. New churches are
now being erected throughout the diocese, as well as in
the city ; and in the latter an entire square is devoted to
the site of a magnificent cathedral, which will be a model
of architectural splendour. The Irish mainly constitute
the Catholic population of Brooklyn, as of New York, and
most of the Eastern cities. Still in this, as in other dioceses
— indeed, in all dioceses — more priests are required. Of
the thirty other churches, besides those of the city, we find
that some are attended every two weeks, several once a
month, and one only every six weeks. Nevertheless, it is
progress — progress — progress — in all directions.

In 1847 Bishop Timon took possession of the see of

530 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Buffalo, where, to use his own words, ' in the new diocese
there were then sixteen priests and sixteen churches ;
though most of those churches might rather be called huts
or shanties.' That venerable prelate — whom I had the
satisfaction of meeting towards the close of 1866 — has
since gone to receive the reward of a life glorious to
religion. That Bishop has left behind him a noble legacy
to the Church, — 165 churches, including one of the most
beautiful cathedrals now in the country ; 126 priests ; 4
colleges and seminaries ; 9 male and 18 female institu-
tions, to which are attached colleges and academies ; 16
charitable institutions, 4 being hospitals, and 12 asylums ;
with 32 parochial schools. And hard work had Bishop
Timon for the first years of his mission, in meeting the
wants of a fast increasing nock, and resisting the evil
spirit of ill-regulated 'trusteeship.' But if his labour was
great, so is its result.

When Bishop England terminated his apostolic career,
there were in the whole of his diocese, which comprised
the States of North and South Carolina and Georgia, but
8,000 Catholics ; and now in Charleston alone there are
12,000 Catholics, 8,000 of whom are Irish-born, or the
descendants of Irish. And in the city of Mobile, which
bounded the vast diocese of that great prelate, there is
now a Catholic population of some 12,000, mostly Irish —
a thriving, orderly, prosperous community — presided over
by a good and zealous Irish bishop.

Take a Northern city, Manchester, in New Hampshire ;
and we shall see how the good work proceeds. The case
of Manchester is more important, as we may contrast the
past — of a few years since — with the present. The existing
Catholic church being too small for its growing Catholic
congregation, now numbering 8,000, a similar edifice is in
the course of erection. Shortly after the existing church
had been erected, which it was in evil days, and under
circumstances of the greatest discouragement — in fact, of
insult and actual outrage — a band of riotous Know Nothings

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. 531

assembled on the Fourth of July, and commenced its
destruction. They had succeeded in destroying its windows
of stained glass, when a party of Irish Catholics gallantly
encountered and dispersed the mob, and saved from further
injury the church which had cost them so much sacrifice.
To the credit of the local authorities, they not only ex-
pressed their regret at the outrage, but offered, as a com-
pensation, to repair all damages. This the Rev. Mr.
McDonald declined on behalf of his flock, simply requiring
protection from future violence. The attempt on the
church was not the only one made against the Catholics
in Manchester. The Convent of Mercy, which is adjacent
to the church, was near being destroyed by fire at the
hands of a fanatical workman who was engaged in its
erection. He remained one evening after the other work-
men had left, and deliberately set fire to some shavings
that he brought with him to the cupola . for his nefarious
purpose. Fortunately, no sooner had the flames broken
out than they were discovered, and the fire wras extinguished
before any serious injury was done. But since then both
church and convent have remained unmolested, and there
are few cities in which religious and clergy are now more
respected than in Manchester. Since the arrival of the
Sisters, in 1858, there have been over 250 converts in-
structed by them in the faith, and mostly from the wealthier
class of society. In the free schools under the charge of
the Sisters, there are more than 800 children, all of whom
are either Irish-born, or of Irish extraction. Besides the
free schools, there are also, under the same management,
two pay schools, and a select boarding school.

Twenty-five years since, a room of very moderate size
contained all the Catholics that assembled to worship God
in the city of Newark. In this temporary chapel the
women alone were accommodated 'with seats, which were
formed of rude planks laid across empty boxes. What a
change in 1866! A cathedral, with other churches, a

632 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

church of grand proportions in contemplation, several
valuable institutions, an efficient staff of priests, and
13,500 communicants at Christmas ! *

Then, if we turn our glance Westward, and rest it for a
moment on that most marvellous of ah1 modern cities —
Chicago — what do we see ? A few years ago and Chicago
was not heard of ; it had no existence. Since then it has
risen literally from the swamp, a city of magical growth,
yet of full maturity, perhaps the most extraordinary in-
stance of the energy of a people which the world has ever
seen. But yesterday a sprinkling of shanties on the flat
shore of Lake Michigan ; to-day one of the most famous
centres of industry in the States, and known on every
public change in Europe. In this marvellous City of the
West, in which progress assumes dimensions almost gigantic
— with its grain elevators capable of storing twelve million
bushels of grain, and loading the largest ship in little more
than an hour — its abattoirs, that each slaughter from 1,000

* In the following, from a Sister of Mercy in Little Rock, writing to a lady
friend, to whom I am indebted for the letter, we have a glimpse of the progress
of the church in Arkansas : —

'We came here from "old Erin" in 1851, at the earnest solicitation and ac-
companied by our late lamented Bishop and Father, Right Rev. A. Bvrixe, and
found an ample field for our exertions, his zealous efforts not having yielded
a due return, for the want of sufficient labourers in the vineyard. The name of
Catholic, and still more the practice, was scarcely understood by the majority
of the people. A priest was a person on whom every eye rested for ceusure,
and a religious community a retreat for oddities, or something worse, ^uch was
the sad vision that met our view upon our first entrance into thi< distant country
of our adoption, so that we frequently needed to cast a glance heavenward, in
order to rouse our sinking spirits along the weary road.

'It has pleased Almighty Gol to bless our efforts with much success. For
months after our arrival we had but three Catholic child* en to instruct in the
faith ; now we have an immense number, many of whom «re the consecrated
children of Mary. For many weeks past we have been busily engaged pre-
paring adults for Baptism, most of whom ;ire ladies of the first rank and fortune,
tight received Baptism since Easter. So that we have great reason to rejoice
in having been chosen as humble insti'uiuents in the hands of God in the
promotion of His glory in this vast and scattered diocese.

'Our present Bishop, Right Rev. Edward Fitzgerald is an Irishman by birth,
but an American by edtication, youthful in years but mature in virtue His
advent amongst us was a source of unspeakable happiness to us all. Our priests
are all Irish too. and both good and zealous.

' Of the Irish laity, few of them were above a very humble grade of life ; yefc
they are all, in Little Rock, in comfortable circumstances, and in tht- enjoyment
of snug little homesteads.

•There are three institutes of our Order in this diocese,— at Little Rock, Fort
.wmith, and Helena, and numbering in total thirty-five members — all, with three
exceptions, thorough Irish, body, soul mind, and heart.

THE CHURCH IX CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. 633

to 2,000 hogs in a single day — its net- work of railways
connecting it with every State in the Union — its tunnel
running two miles into the lake, to supply pure water for
its inhabitants — its machinery for lifting whole blocks of
houses, and building additional stories under them without
interfering with the business or the comfort of a tenant ! —
in this marvellous Chicago, the very embodiment of the
spirit of go-aheadisni, the Catholic Church is not a whit
behind hand. It strives, and with cheering success, to
keep pace with a progress almost without example in the
world. In the city there are about 20 Catholic churches,
for a Catholic population of 60,000, of whom 50,000 are
Irish; and other churches, including one of considerable
grandeur, are either in course of erection or in active
contemplation. It has even now 12,000 Catholic children,
of all classes and conditions of life, receiving a sound
Catholic teaching in academies and parochial schools. And,
a not less significant indication of progress, it is receiving
daily within its fold converts of the educated classes
of society. In one church, in the year 1866, the Bishop —
a most accomplished gentleman and zealous ecclesiastic —
administered Confirmation to 500 persons ; and of that
number over 100 were converts, principally from the middle
and upper classes. I met more than one of these converts ;
and for intelligence, information, and quiet dignity of
manner, I have rarely, if ever, seen their superiors. The
building of churches and schools is a visible and tangible
evidence of progress, and there is abundant evidence of
this kind in Chicago ; but conversions, and from the
educated and enlightened portion of the community, are
evidences more important and more conclusive. Even in
Chicago, the centre of unceasing movement and constant
change, the majestic conservatism of the Catholic Church,
its tranquil serenity in the hour of civil strife, its un-
broken unity in the midst of dissension and disorder — is
a subject of wonder and admiration ; and thoughtful

534 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

earnest men cannot avoid beholding in it an additional
proof of its divine mission.

Happily for the interests of religion, happily for the
welfare of its enormous Irish population, New York is not
devoting all its energies to the construction of a cathedral
which will cost three millions of dollars, and will be the
pride and glory of the Irish Catholic heart.* The Arch-
bishop, one of the ablest of the Prelates of the American
Church, is fully alive to the necessity of providing ample
accommodation as well for those who have already come, as
for those who are certain to come; and by the close of
1868 the churches of the city of New York will have
reached the number of forty. But ' more, more, more ! '
is the cry one hears on every side ; and ere the golden cross
flashes from the loftiest pinnacle of the Cathedral of St.
Patrick, many new churches will have gathered in new
congregations, additional thousands and tens of thousands
of worshippers. The progress of the church in this greatest
of American cities is hopeful and cheering in the highest
degree, and in no city are institutions of all kinds more
numerous or more efficient ; but the necessity for further
efforts is perhaps more pressing, more urgent, and the
field for the display of all the resources of zeal and
liberality wider and vaster, than in any city within the
circle of the Union. Though there is no little poverty and
distress in New York, there is also a rich and powerful
Catholic community; and though great things have been
done, and are every day in progress, still the Catholics of
New York are well aware that they must make, and con-
tinue to make large sacrifices, in order to meet a state of
things which, while exceptional in its character, is the
natural and inevitable result of the position of their city —

* This magnificent structure, which is being constructed of white marble, will be
one of the grandest churches in the world. Its dimensions are these : Length,
330 feet ; breadth of body of church, 130 ; of transept, 172 ; height of interior,
from floor to crown of arched ceiling, 110 ; height of aisles, 54 ; elevation of its
two towers and spires, 320 feet each. And this all in white marble !

CATHOLICITY IN BOSTON. 535

virtually the gate through which the adventurous of the
Old World reach the New. And so long as the stream of
European emigration flows into and through New York,
so long must the spiritual wants of the Church impose an
onerous but necessary burden on the generosity of the
faithful. From what I have seen of the pastors and the
flock, I have no fear as to the result.

But turn to Boston, — Boston, the stronghold of the
Puritan — Boston, the nursing-mother of all the 'isms'
which in the past proclaimed hostility to the stranger and
the Catholic — Boston, which has not to this day obliterated
the blackened traces of the fire that, amidst the yells of
an infuriated mob, shot up its fierce blaze to the heavens
from the burning timbers of the dwelling in which holy
women divided their lives between the education of the
young and the worship of the Deity, — Boston, whose lead-
ing citizens informed Archbishop Carroll that had they,
some time before his visit, met a Catholic in the street,
they would have crossed to the other side, such was their
horror of, or such their aversion to, one of that detested
creed. In this same Boston, on Sunday, the 15th of
September 1867, Bishop "Williams, attended by several
other Prelates, and in the presence of an immense multi-
tude, laid the foundation stone of a Cathedral which will
be one of the most imposing structures in the country.
The vastness of its dimensions fitly typifies the progress of
Catholicity in Massachusetts. These are they, at least the
principal, given in the words of the architect: 'The ex-
treme length, -from the front of the large tower to the rear
of the large chapel in East Union Park Street, is 364 feet,
while the distance from the front entrance to the rear of
the chancel is 295 feet. The breadth of the nave and aisles
at the buttresses is 98 feet, the transept is 140 feet. . . .
The ridge of the nave roof will be 118 feet above the street,
while the nave ceiling will be 87 feet high.' And at an
altitude of 300 feet the great tower will rise, crowned with

53G THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

a golden cross. Such are the main dimensions of the
Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in whose adornment the best
efforts of Christian art and Catholic piety will be enlisted
and employed.

Archbishop M'Closkey addressed the assembled multitude
who witnessed the ceremonial ; and his words are at once
so authoritative and so descriptive, as well of the progress
of the Catholic Church in Massachusetts and the New
England States, as of the material and social advance of
the ' old world immigrants ' — who in these States are prin-
cipally Irish — that an extract or two from his admirable
discourse may fittingly occupy a place in these pages.

Contrasting the past with the present, the Archbishop
says :—

4 There are those most probably now within sound of my voice, who
can remember when there was but one Catholic church in Boston, and
when that sufficed, or had to suffice, not alone for this city, but for all
New England; and how is it now? Churches and institutions multi-
plied, and daily continuing to multiply, on every side, in this city,
throughout this State, in all, or yearly all, the cities and States of
New England ; so that, at this day, no portion of our country is en-
riched with them in greater proportionate numbers, none where they
have grown up to a more nourishing condition, none where finished
with more artistic skill, or presenting monuments of more architec-
tural taste and beauty.'

To God's blessing — not overlooking what may to some
appear the natural and obvious reason, namely, 'the never
ceasing tide of immigration that has been and still con-
tinues to be setting towards the American shores' — the
Archbishop attributes this astonishing progress. He ac-
curately represents the anticipations of those, and they
were many, who held that the Catholic religion would
never take root in the free soil of America — that it would
wither and shrivel up in the pure atmosphere of New
England enlightenment.

But with regard to the Catholic portion of these immigrants, must
we not bear in mind that their religion was looked on with much dis-

ANTICIPATIONS NOT REALISED. 537

favour, by some, even with bitter prejudice and inveterate dislike? It
was held and represented to be a religion of ignorance and superstition,
full of the grossest absurdities and palpable errors. The prediction
was confidently made that it could not long endure when once brought
lace to face with the light and intelligence of this free country — that,
at best, it could never make any headway, except in its first migratory
character, that it might spread along the surface, but could never take
root in the soil ; that, in process of time, as it would be brought more
in contact with the teachings, as was said, of a purer gospel, it would
be subjected more fully to the action of our republican institutions, it
would lose its hold on the minds, even of its own followers, and be
forced gradually to give way before the progressive and irresistible
spirit of the age ; and if this would not be true of the old world immi-
grants, it would be found so, at least, of their descendants. Their
children, possessing here the advantages of better education, growing
up more intelligent, more inquisitive, more independent, partaking
more fully of American life and character, would be too sensible and
too shrewd to cling to such an unpopular form of faith ; unsuited to
the country and the times, that would bring them neither worldly
honour nor worldly gain, but, on the contrary, would stand in the way
of their temporal interests, would hinder them from rising in the
social scale — in a word, would confound them with the vulgar and
ignorant horde that still blindly persisted in believing Transubstantia-
tion, and adhering to the Pope of Rome.

The Archbishop eloquently describes the utter falsifi-
cation of all these hopes and anticipations : —

Well, Beloved Brethren, have these predictions been fulfilled?
Certainly there is nothing here that would lead me to think so ; and,
if not in the past or present, I see less sign of their being so in the
future. Many, perhaps most of you, are from a foreign land. Well,
do you love the old faith now less than you did when you first landed
on these free shores? Is it less dear to you here, in this home of
your adoption, than it was on your native soil in the home of your
childhood? Do you cherish it less warmly? do you cling to it less
firmly? would you die for it less freely? I think that, with one
accord, you will answer No. So, throughout every portion of this
great Republic, which you love as ardently as do its own sons, for
which you would lay down your lives as generously, to the same
question your brethren would give the same response — No ! a thou-
sand times No! But your children, how has it been with them?
In their case, assuredly, the test has been a severe, and more dan-
gerous, because a more insidious one. Owing to the causes at which

638 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

I have already hinted, and to other influences which I need not now
enumerate, many indeed have been lost to the household of the faith
— more so in times past than in the present— yet nowhere, I venture
to affirm, will stauncher or firmer, or more consistent Catholics be
found than among these American native born ; and while they thus
cherish their holy faith, do they not, at the same time, vie in learning,
in intelligence, in spirited enterprise, in patriotism and honest worth, with
their fellow citizens in all the various professions and other pursuits of
life? If I needed proof or illustration, I should have only to point to
many who are here now before me or at my side, to your own honoured
Bishop at their head. But why do I say this? Not surely in any
boastful or invidious spirit, — but simply to show that prophecy con-
cerning us has failed — that our holy Catholic faith can take, has
taken, root in this free soil; nowhere indeed does it seem to find
another more congenial — nowhere does it spread its roots more widely
or sink them more deeply — nowhere does it put forth more rapid
growth, or flourish with more health and vigour, or give promise of
more abundant fruit, — and this, we contend, has come to pass only by
God's blessing.

Nor was the Archbishop without referring to the impor-
tant acquisition to the Church which every day records —
of converts of thoughtful and searching minds, blameless
lives, and good social position, who have no worldly
object to gain, and who perhaps may have much to lose,
by embracing a faith against which the passions and
prejudices of the world are as yet arrayed.

What may be the number of Catholics in the United
States, is a question of much interest, respecting which
there is considerable difference of opinion — some setting it
down as very much less than it really is, others estimating
it beyond what it possibly can be. There is little difficulty
in proving the number of churches or ecclesiastics to be
what is stated ; but dealing with a vast proportion of the
population, the computation is not so simple a matter.
Avoiding anything like an extreme estimate, and taking
into account not only the enormous emigration of the last
half century, chiefly consisting of Catholics from Ireland
and the continent of Europe ; considering also that the
Irish element is, if not the most, certainly one of the most,

NUMBER OF CATHOLICS IN THE STATES. 6.W

fruitful in the world ; and not forgetting this fact, that in
several parts of the Union, and notably in the New England
States, the annual increase of the populatio£ is entirely
owing to the foreign element* — and in most of these
States the foreign element is fully five-sixths Irish and
Catholic — I am inclined to agree with those who regard
from nine to ten millions of Catholics as a fair and mode-
rate estimate. They may be more, but it is not propable
that there are less than 9,000,000 ; which is more than
one-fourth of the entire population of the United States.

And now, what more need be said of the progress of that
Church which has in its charge the spiritual welfare and
moral worth of the Irish in America ? She has her enemies,
and will continue to have them, as she has ever had ; and
these have been her glory rather than her shame. Sects
will assail her, and even parties may league against her ;
but she will pursue the even tenor of her way, neither
looking to the right nor to the left, as indifferent to threat
as to seduction — preaching peace and love to all men —
lifting up her children, by her holy influence, to a truer
appreciation and a more practical fulfilment of their
duties as Christians and as citizens — teaching them to love
and honour and serve the great country in which, not-
withstanding the idle rage of the fanatic and the folly of
the shortsighted, she has full freedom of development, of
active and noble usefulness.

For this glorious Church of America many nations have
done their part. The sacred seed first planted by the hand
of the chivalrous Spaniard has been watered by the blood
of the generous Gaul ; to the infant mission the English-
man brought his steadfastness and his resolution, the
Scotchman his quiet firmness, the Frenchman his en-
lightenment, the Irishman the ardour of his faith ; and as
time rolled on, and wave after wave of emigration brought

* For some interesting information on this subject the reader ia referred to the
Appendix.

540 THE IRISH Itf AMERICA.

with it more and more of the precious life-blood of Europe,
'from no country was there a richer contribution of piety
and zeal, of ' devotion and self-sacrifice, than from that
advanced out-post of the Old World, whose western shores
first breast the fury of the Atlantic ; to whose people
Providence appears to have assigned a destiny grand and
heroic — of carrying the civilisation of the Cross to remote
lands and distant nations. What Ireland has done for the
American Church every bishop, every priest can tell.
Throughout the vast extent of the Union, tfyere is scarcely
a church, a college, an academy, a school, a religious or
charitable institution, an asylum, an hospital, or a refuge,
in which the piety, the learning, the zeal, the self-sacrifice
of the Irish — of the priest or the professor — of the Sisters
of every Order and denomination — are not to be traced ;
there is scarcely an ecclesiastical seminary for English-
speaking students in which the great majority of those
now preparing for the service of the sanctuary do not
belong, if not by birth, at least by blood, to that historic
Jand to which the- grateful Church of past ages accorded
the proud title — Insula Sanctorum.

A writer who is not remarkable for enthusiasm, and who
judges with wisdom and praises with reserve, thus describes
to what extent the American Church is indebted for its
progress to the Irish population of the United States* : —

In recording this consoling advancement of Catholicity throughout
the United States, especially in the North and West, justice requires
us to state, that it is owing in a great measure to the faith, zeal, and
generosity of the Irish people, who have emigrated to these shores,
and their descendants. We are far from wishing to detract from the
merit of other nationalities ; but the vast influence which the Irish
population have exerted in extending the domain of the Church is
well deserving of notice, because it conveys a very instructive lesson.
The wonderful history of the Irish nation has always forced upon us
the conviction, that, like the chosen generation of Abraham, they were

* Sketch of the Origin and Progress of the Catholic Church in the United
States of America, by Kev. C. GK White, I). P., given as an Appendix to
Parra'a General History of the Catholic Church. Published by P. O'Shea,
Barclay Street, New York.

THE PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC EMIGRANT. 541

destined in the designs of Providence to a special mission for the pre-
servation and propagation of the true faith. This faith, so pure, so
lively, so generous, displays itself in every region of the globe. To its
vitality and energy must we attribute, to a very great extent, the
rapid increase in the number of churches and other institutions which
have sprung np and are still springing up in the United States, and to
the same source are the clergy mainly indebted for their support in
the exercise of their pastoral ministry. It cannot be denied, and we
bear a cheerful testimony to the fact, that hundreds of clergymen who
are labouring for the salvation of souls, would starve, and their efforts
for the cause of religion would be in vain, but for the generous aid
which they receive from the children of Erin, who know, for the most
part, how to appreciate the benefits of religion, and who therefore
joyfully contribute of their worldly means, to purchase the spiritual
blessings which the Church dispenses.*

In concluding this sketch of the progress of the Catholic
Church in America, I may refer again, though in a
passing manner, to the alleged loss of faith on the part of
the Irish. The reader who has gone through the foregoing
pages must have found in them sufficient to account,
easily and rationally, for whatever loss of faith did occur
from the migration of a people without priests, flocks
without pastors ; while he must have seen no little to
admire in the fidelity — the miraculous fidelity— with which
the same people kept the faith under circumstances the
most unfavourable, and in the face of discouragements
of the most formidable nature.

Let it be distinctly borne in mind, that the Irish Cath-
olic had everything against him, nothing in his favour.
With the Irish Protestant, of whatever denomination, the
case was totally different. The Irish Protestant practically

* One out of a thousand instances will suffice to exhibit the zeal and gene-
rosity of the humbler classes of the Irish in America. A Sister of Mercy thus
tells what the Irish working people have done for the Order in Cincinnati :
'The Convent, Schools, and House of Mercy, in which the good works of our
Institute are progressing, were purchased in 1861, at a considerable outlay.
This, together with the repairs, alterations, furnishing, &c., were defrayed by the
working class nf Irish people, who have been and are to us most devoted, and by
their generosity have enabled us, up to the present time, to carry out successfully
our works of mercy and charity.'

542 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

knew nothing of the difficulties by which the Irish Catholic
was surrounded, nothing of the trials and temptations to
which the Catholic and the family of the Catholic were
subjected or exposed. Wherever the Irish Protestant
turned his face, there he found a congregation and a
church, nay even the people and the very atmosphere to
suit him. If he had not, convenient to his dwelling, a
church or a congregation of his immediate denomination,
there was some kindred church which opened its doors to
welcome him, some sect to sympathise with his belief, and
receive him in the spirit of religious fraternity. Not so
with the Catholic. The multitude of denominations was
to him of little avail. There was no friendly sect or kin-
dred communion to receive or sympathise with him. He
had to stand alone and aloof, for with none could he amal-
gamate, or, as Protestant sects might, fuse down in one
grand accord every minor difference. Thus, alone and
aloof, the Irish Catholic, without church or pastor, had to
keep the faith alive in his own breast, and foster it by
every parental influence in the breasts of his children ;
who were exposed to the perilous seductions of association
with those young as themselves, but who, unlike them, had
a church, a pastor, or a congregation. The wonder is, not
that some lost the faith ; but the miracle is, that it was so
amazingly preserved.

Any speculation as to the number of those who lost the
faith would be as idle as profitless. It would require the
labour of one of our Royal Commissions, powers well nigh
inquisitorial, and a dozen years spent in journeying to and
fro, to arrive at anything like an approach to the real
number of those who yielded to the force of circumstances,
and of those who resisted their influences. The belief of
every thoughtful Catholic in the United States with whom
I conversed on this subject is, that the loss has been
monstrously exaggerated, the statements to that effect
partaking more of the nature of an oratorical flourish than

LOSS OF FAITH AND INDIFFERENTISM. 543

of the remotest approach to statistical accuracy — resting
upon nothing more solid than a paragraph in a well-meant
letter of warning, or a full-swelling passage in a terror-
striking discourse. The motive in which these statements
had their origin was good, but the language has been sadly
reckless. From individual locah'ties, or exceptional cir-
cumstances, results sweeping and general have been de-
duced. Whatever the loss — and it is altogether a thing
of the past rather than of the present — there can be no
delusion more monstrous, or indeed more unjust to a peo-
ple or a Church, than that the Irish become, if not actual
infidels, at least indifferent, the moment they land in
America. Now, were not the character of the Irish — the
most retentive and tenacious of all races of the world — a
sufficient answer to this absurdity, the proof to the contrary
is the present position of the Catholic Church of America.
On this head nothing need be added to the force and
authority of the passage I have just quoted from a writer
so careful and cautious as Dr. "White.

Neither is it true that in differ entism, though the all-
pervading religious disease of America, is one of the char-
acteristics of Catholicity in that countrj*. The magnitude
of the work done, of the vast and splendid things ac-
complished, is altogether inconsistent with indifferentism.
There is as much active zeal, as enthusiastic fervour, as
profound piety, in America as even in Ireland; and in
many places the organisation for all church purposes and
every spiritual object is more complete than it is in the
old country. The ceremonies are conducted with solemnity
and dignity, and the congregations are collected and devo-
tional in air and manner ; and whenever the Church makes
a special appeal to the piety of her children, the religious
enthusiasm is fervent and intense. There is one, and that
a marked difference between congregations in Catholic
churches in America and in Ireland or England ; and the
difference is too honouring to the American character to

544 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

be overlooked. In America there is most frequently in
Catholic churches a considerable proportion of Protestants
— who do not either idly gape about, or exhibit weari-
ness or impatience ; but who listen gravely, arid conduct
themselves with scrupulous decorum. I have been in
many of the Catholic churches of America, and I never
witnessed on the part of Protestants anything which was
not respectful to the place and creditable to them;

Now, at any rate, there is no fear of loss. The day for
that is gone. Wherever the axe of the pioneer clears the
path in the forest, or the plough of the settler turns up
the virgin soil of the prairie, the Church soon follows and
erects the Cross ; and no sooner does the village begin to
assume the outlines of the city than the Religious Orders,
those noble standard-bearers and soldiers of the Faith,
push on to protect and defend the rising youth of the race
and religion of Catholic Ireland. The losses of the past
are to be deplored, though they have been exaggerated ;
but the America of the past is not the America of to-day.

CHAPTEE XXX.

The Irish in the War— Irish faithful to either Side — Thomas
Francis Meagher — "Why the Irish joined distinct Organisations
— Irish Chivalry — More Irish Chivalry — The Religious Influence
— Not knowing what he preached on — Cleanliness of the Irish
Soldier — Respect for the Laws of War — A Non-combatant de-
fending his Castle — Defended with Brickbats — • Noblesse Ob-
lige'— Pat's Little Game — Irish Devotedness — The Love of
Fight — Testimonies to the Irish Soldier — The Handsomest
Thing of the War — Patrick Ronayne Cleburne — General Cle-
burne and his Opinions — In Memoriam — After the War — The
grandest of all Spectacles.

FROM the very circumstances of their position, it was
almost a matter of inevitable necessity that the Irish
citizens of America should ally themselves with that
political party which, with respect to the foreigner and the
stranger, adopted the liberal and enlightened policy of
Jefferson and Madison. The Irish, then, being Demo-
crats, naturally sympathised with the prevailing sentiment
of the Southern States, which was strongly Democratic.
And yet, notwithstanding this sympathy, the result of a
general concurrence of opinion with that of the South, the
Irish of the Northern States not merely remained faithful to
the flag of the Union, but were amongst the foremost and
the most enthusiastic of those who rallied in its defence,
and the most steadfast in their support of the Federal
cause, from the moment that the first gun, fired in Charles-
ton Harbor, echoed through the land, to the hour when
Lee surrendered, and the war was at an end. Whatever
their opinions or feelings as to the conduct of those who,
justly or unjustly, were held responsible for bringing about
or precipitating the contest, and deeply as they felt the
injury which war was certain to inflict on the country of
their adoption, the Irish-born citizens never wavered in
their duty. None more bitterly deplored than they did

546 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the sad consequences of civil strife — a conflict which would
bring into deadly collision kindred races even of their own
people ; but once the rupture was irrevocable, they calmly
accepted their position. From the first moment to the
last, they were animated by a high sense of duty, and an
earnest feeling of patriotism. Fortunately for the honour
and fame of the Irish, there was in their motives an utter
absence of the baneful passions of hatred and revenge, or
the least desire to crush or humiliate their opponents.
War with all its tremendous consequences they faced as a
stern and terrible necessity ; but they entered into it with
a chivalrous and Christian spirit, which never deserted
them throughout the prolonged struggle. They did not
stop to argue or split hairs as to the constitutional rights
alleged to be involved ; they acted, as they felt, with the
community amid whom they lived, and with whom their
fortunes were identified. The feeling was the same at
both sides of the line. The Irish in the South stood with
the State to which, as they believed, they owed their first
allegiance, and, as was the case in the North, they caught
the spirit of the community of whom they formed part.
They also were profoundly grieved at the necessity for war,
and would have gladly avoided the calamity of an open
rupture. Southern Irishmen have told me that they shed
tears of bitter anguish when, in vindication of what they
held to be the outraged independence of their State, which
to them was the immediate home of their adoption, they
first fired on the flag of that glorious country which had
been an asylum to millions of their people. The Northern
Irishman went into the war for the preservation of the
Union — the Southern Irishman for the independence of
his State. And each, in his own mind, was as thoroughly
justified, both as to right and duty, principle and patriotism,
as the other. With the political or constitutional question
involved at either side I have no business whatever ; and
were I competent to disentangle it from the maze into

IRISH FAITHFUL TO EITHER SIDE. 547

which conflicting opinions and subtle disquisitions have
brought it, I should still, from a feeling of delicacy, decline
dealing with a subject which may not, as yet, be freely
handled without exciting anger and irritation. I have
heard the undisguised sentiments of Irishmen at both
sides of the line — every man of them loving America with
a feeling of profound attachment ; and I, who stand, as it
were, on neutral ground, have as full faith in the patriotism
and purity of motive of the Northern as the Southern, the
Confederate as the Federal.

In their zeal for the cause which Irishmen on each side
mutually and of necessity espoused, they did not at all
times, perhaps could not, make due allowance for the
feelings and convictions of their countrymen who fought
under opposing banners, or fairly consider the position in
which they were placed, and the influences by which they
were surrounded. Thus, while the Northern Irishman
could not comprehend how it was that the Southern Irish-
man, though sympathising, with every passionate throb
of the community in which he lived, and whose every
feeling or prejudice he thoroughly shared, could possibly
take up arms against the Union — against the Stars and
Stripes — that 'terror of tyrants and hope of the op-
pressed ; ' in the same way, the Southern Irishman could
not reconcile it to his notions of consistency, that the very
men who sought to liberate their native land from British
thraldom should join with those who were doing their
utmost to subjugate and trample under foot the liberties
of a people fighting for their independence. But, were the
struggle to be fought over again, both — Irishmen of the
North and Irishmen of the South — would fall inevitably
into the same ranks, and fight under the same banner ; and
though each could not, at least for a time, do justice to the
motives of the other, every dispassionate observer, who took
their mutual positions into account, should do so. An
American general, one of the most thoughtful and intelligent

548 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

men whom I have ever met, remarked to me one day : —
' Nothing during the war was more admirable than the
'fidelity of your countrymen, at both sides, to the State
' in which they lived. North or South, they were equally
' devoted, equally faithful, sharing in every emotion of the
'community of which they formed part. I know that
'some of your countrymen at our side could not make
' allowance for those on the other side, and in fact would
' hear nothing said in their defence ; but I always held
'the conviction that not only could they not have done
' otherwise, consistently with their duty, but that the
'manner in which they did it redounds to their lasting
' honour. The war has tried the Irish, and they stood the
' test well, as good citizens and gallant soldiers. This has
' been my opinion from the first ; and it is the same now,
' that the war is happily at an end.'

Perhaps to no other man of Irish blood was the Federal
government more indebted than to that gifted and gallant
Irishman over whom, in the mystery and darkness of the
night, the turbid waters of the Missouri rolled in death —
Thomas Francis Meagher. Passionately attached to the
land which for so many years had been the asylum and
the hope of millions of the Irish people, he infused into
his brilliant oratory all the ardour of his soul, and the
strong fidelity of his heart. The Union was the object of
his veneration ; its flag the emblem of its greatness and
its glory. Meagher ' of the Sword ' was in his element
at last ; and as his fiery words rang through the land, they
roused the enthusiasm of a race whose instincts are essen-
tially warlike, and whose fondest aspirations are for mili-
tary renown. Animated no less by a sense of their duties
as citizens, than thrilled by accents that stimulated their
national pride, the very flower of the Irish youth of the
Northern States rallied under the flag of the Union.

Writers for and in certain journals of the United
Kingdom frequently impugned the character and the

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. 549

motives of the Irish who joined the Federal army during
the war ; and ' mercenary ' and ' rowdy ' and ' rough/ have
been the terms too freely employed to express dislike of
those who formed so powerful an element of the strength
and valour of the Northern army. But never was slander
more malignant, or description more entirely inapt. Here,
in the words of Thomas Francis Meagher, traced but a
few months before his lamentable death, is the simple
explanation of the motives and vindication of the cha-
racter of the men who took up arms for a principle, and
who x fought with the valour and the chivalry of true
soldiers. From a letter dated the 4th of March, 1867,
from Virginia City, Montana, I take this sentence : ' A
'chivalrous — and I may with perfect truth assert a re-
' ligious — sense of duty, and spirit of fidelity to the
'Government and Flag of the nation of which they were
' citizens, alone inspired them to take up arms against the
' South — and this I well know, that many of my gallant
' fellows left comfortable homes, and relinquished good
' wages, and resigned profitable and most promising
' situations, to face the poor pittance, the coarse rations,
' the privations, rigours, and savage dangers of a soldier's
'life in the field.'*

* How little we know what lies in the future! When General Meagher wrote
the letter from which the above extract is taken, he was full of health and hope,
with visions of a brilliant and a joyous future before him. Here are his own
words : ' All I can say — all I have time to say — is this, that I am in the very
•best health— so is Mrs. M-agher— and that I'm resolved not to turn my back
• upon the Rocky Mountains until I have the means to whip my carriage-and-four
'through the New York Central Park, and sail my own yacht, with the Green
' Flag at the Mizeu-peak, within three miles of the Irish coast'

I have met with many men— American and Irish— who have seen Meagher
in the very thick of the fight, and who spoke with admiration of the intrepid
gallantry with which he bore himself on every occasion ; and who described
how on more than one memorable field his noble Brigade, skilfully and daringly
le'l by him, turned the tide of battle, and changed the fortunes of the day. Ere
this, I believe, more than one volume has been published in America, doing
justice to the brilliant Irishman who is now no more, and chronicling the heroic
deeds of one of the most splendid military organisations of modern times.

I have seen Thomas Francis Meagher, not, it is true, in the thick of the fight.

550 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

The Irish citizens did not enter the army at either side
as a matter of calculation and prudence, but as a matter
of duty, and from an impulse of patriotism. Yet if they
had acted on deliberation, they could not have done more
wisely than they did. ' Foreigners and aliens ' they would
indeed have proved themselves to be, had they stood
coldly aloof, or shown themselves insensible to the cause
which stirred the heart of the nation to its depths, and, as
it were in a moment, made gallant soldiers of peaceful
civilians. They vindicated their citizenship not alone by
their services, but by their sympathies ; and in their
terrible sacrifices — on every bloody field and in every
desperate assault — in every danger, toil, and suffering —
they made manifest their value to the State, no less by
their devotion than their valour.

From every State ; from every city, town, and village ;
from the forest and the prairie, the hill and the plain ;
from the workshop, the factory, and the foundry ; from
the counter and the desk ; from the steam-boat, the wharf,
and the river bank — wherever the Irish were, or what-
ever their occupation, they obeyed the summons of their
adopted country, and rushed to the defence of its banner.
They either formed organisations of their own, or they
fell into the ranks with their fellow-citizens of other
nationalities. But special organisations, distinctive and
national, had for them peculiar attractions ; and once the

with the green flag glancing amid the smoke of battle, but in a position not less
trying to the physical and moral courage of man— in the dock of the court-house
of Clonmel, listening to the sentence of death solemnly pronounced upon him in
the measured accents, and almost dramatic utterance, of a judge since gone to
his account. It is now nearly twenty years since those awe-inspiring words fell
upon the hushed audience in that crowded court ; and I well remember, as
if it were yesterday, the proud and gallant bearing of that young and fearless
tribune, who, I am convinced, would have met death calmly in the cause to
which he deliberately sacrificed every hope of his youth and dream of his
ambition. Had he been allowed to enter the House of Commons, when he made
the attempt on the hustings of Waterford in 1847, his fate might have been
quite other than it was ; but the spirit of faction was too strong in those days ;
and so. while the British Parliament lost a brilliant orator, and Ireland an
eloquent advocate and faithful representative, America gained a devoted citizen.

WHY THE IRISH JOINED DISTINCT ORGANISATIONS. 551

green flag, was unfurled, it acted with magnetic influence,
drawing to it the hardy children of Erin. There were,
in both armies, companies, regiments, brigades, exclusively
Irish ; but whether there was a special organisation or not,
there was scarcely a regiment in either service which did
not contain a smaller or greater number of Irish citizens.
I cannot venture to particularise or enumerate. The
attempt would be idle, if not invidious. But I have
spoken to gallant men who led them in action, and were
with them amid all the trials and vicissitudes of a soldier's
life ; and whether they fought under a distinct organisation,
or without distinction of national badge or banner, there
was only one opinion expressed of their fighting qualities,
and their amazing powers of endurance — and that equally
in South as in North, in North as well as South. Why
the Irish were attracted by distinct organisations, was
well explained by General Meagher. It was prior to the
formation of his famous Brigade that he used the words
I am about to quote ; but when once the war was in full
swing, and the hard work had really commenced, the
chief inducement of the Irishman to join either company,
regiment, or brigade, was the reputation it had earned,
and the glory it had achieved. In the course of his
oration on McManus, he referred to the desire even then
expressed by the Irish citizen to join a purely Irish regi-
ment or brigade, and said : —

'It is a pardonable prejudice, for the Irishman never
1 fights so well as when he has an Irishman for his comrade.
'An Irishman going into the field in this cause, has this
' as the strongest impulse and his richest reward, that his
' conduct in the field will reflect honour on the old land he
' will see no more. He therefore wishes that if he falls, it
' will be into the arms of one of the same nativity, that all
'may hear that he died in a manner worthy of the cause
'in which he fell, and the country which gave him birth.
'This is the explanation why Irishmen desire to be together

£53 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

' in the fight for the Stars and Stripes, and I am sure there
' is not a native-born citizen here who will not confess that
' it is a pardonable, a generous, and a useful prejudice.'

This tendency of the Irish to join distinct organisations,
whether of regiment or brigade, imposed on them more of
hard work, more of risk and danger, than fell to the ordi-
nary lot of the soldier. It seemed as if they themselves
should do more than others, to sustain the reputation which
they had often, in times when civil war was undreamt of,
claimed for their race — a reputation that others had freely
admitted to be established beyond question. Not only had
the Irishman to maintain the honour of his regiment, but
he had also to maintain the honour of his country; for if
he fought as an American citizen, he also fought as an
Irish exile. We have thus, independently altogether of
the natural love of fight that seems inherent in the Irish
blood, the explanation of the desperate courage displayed
on every occasion in which they were engaged, in whatever
operation of war, whether as assailants or defenders, steadily
resisting or daringly attacking. The character which they
soon acquired for courage and devotion, endurance as well
as dash, added to their fame ; but it was likewise the
cause of many a wife being made a widow, many a child
an orphan, many a home desolate — of mourning and sorrow
at both sides of the Atlantic. When the General had work
to do which should be done, he required soldiers on whom
he could rely ; and whatever other soldiers were selected,
there was sure to be an Irish regiment among the rest.
And though Irishmen may possibly, at the time, have
grumbled at not being given enough to do, they must
now, as they calmly recur to the past, admit that the}7
had, to say the very least, their full share of the fight as
of the hardship, of the sacrifice as of the glory.

The Irish displayed a still nobler quality than courage,
though theirs was of the most exalted nature; they dis-
played magnanimity, generosity — Christian chivalry. From

IBISH CHIVALRY. 553

one end of the South to the other, even where the feeling
was yet sore, and the wound of defeat still rankled in the
breast, there was no anger against the Irish soldiers of the
Union. Whenever the feeble or the defenceless required
a protector, or woman a champion, or an endangered
church a defender, the protector, the champion, and the
defender were to be found in the Irishman, who fought for
a principle, not for vengeance or desolation. The evil
deeds, the nameless horrors, perpetrated in the fury of
passion and in the licence of victory — whatever these
were, they are not laid at the door of the Irish. On the
contrary, from every quarter are to be heard praises of the
Irish for their forbearance, their gallantry, and their
chivalry — than which no word more fitly represents their
bearing at a time when wanton outrages and the most
horrible cruelties were too frequently excused or palliated
on the absolving plea of stern necessity.

I could fill many pages with incidents illustrative of this
noble conduct, did space admit of my doing so. I met, in
New Orleans, with a dignitary of the Episcopalian Ciiurch,
who made the conduct of the Irish in the Northern army
the subject of warm eulogium ; and in his own words,
afterwards written at my request, I shall allow him to tell
in what manner the chivalrous Irishman won the respect
of the people against whom he fought, but whom he did
not hate, and would not willingly humiliate.

It was a cause of real grief to the Southern people when they beheld
the Irish nation, in the midst of their great struggle for independence,
furnishing soldiers to fight a people who were engaged^ in a deadly
contest for the same boon, and who had never given them cause of
offence. This feeling was. however, softened in the progress of the
war, when they discovered the generous sympathy yet lurking in the
breasts of these misguided men, and which was never invoked in vain.
In every assault made upon a defenceless household the Irish soldier
was among the first to interpose for the defence of the helpless, to
shield them from insult and wrong.

In the march of Sheridan's cavalry through Albemarle county,
Virginia, the house of a worthy clergyman was about to be entered

24

554 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

by a rude and tumultuous band, when an Irishman rushed forward to
protect the family, assumed the place of sentinel and guard, drove the
invaders from the threshold, dragged from his hidden retreat, under
the portico, a burglar who was breaking into the cellar, and with
sword in hand defied any one to violate the sanctity of that home.
None dared to resist him, until a company of stragglers following upon
the heels of the main body advanced in force, and demanded to know
his authority for tarrying there when the troops had left. ' To defend
this house from thieves and burglars.' was his reply. Brandishing their
weapons, they attempted to drive him from the place, when he looked
them quietly in the face and asked, ' How tall are you when you are
fat?' The imperturbable coolness of the Irishman was too much for
them, and they left him to enjoy the satisfaction of his heroism, and
the grateful attentions of the family he had so nobly defended. His
mission did not end there, but taking from his knapsack his ration of
coffee and sugar, which had not been consumed, he insisted that the
good minister and his family should accept it for their own use. The
nature of this man's service was the more appreciated when the ad-
jacent plantation was soon after consumed by fire. The husband and
father died suddenly from the shock, and the widow and children
were left homeless and foodless in the negro cabin, to lament that no
Irish soldier was there to shield them from the cruel wrath of their
countrymen.

Again, upon the visit of Sherman's army to Mecklenburg co. after
the surrender, the estate of Mr. S., the brother of the minister referred
to, fell a prey to the same species of violence. His mansion, one of
the most magnificent in the State, was despoiled. His wife, being ill,
was confined to her chamber, when it was suddenly threatened by an
excited group of soldiers maddened with liquor.. In vain did the
physician who was in attendance remonstrate with the ruffians, who
insisted upon forcing the door in search of plunder. At this moment
an Irish soldier came to the rescue, took his place as sentinel at the
door, hurled back the crowd, and remained there for several hours
the faithful guardian of that sick chamber, until the house was freed
from its invaders. Every nook and corner was searched, everything
plundered that could be taken away, every apartment rifled save that
sheltered under the aegis of the brave-hearted Irish soldier.

The 9th Connecticut,* an exclusively Irish regiment, was
quartered in New Orleans during its occupation by the
force under General Butler. Its officers maintained the
chivalrous character of the Irish soldier, who fought for a
principle, not for plunder or oppression. They remained

* I am not certain as to the regiment, but I am as to the nationality.

MORE IRISH CHIVALRY. 555

in their marquees, and would not take possession of the
houses of the wealthy citizens, which, according to the laws
of war, they might have done. 'We came to fight men,
said they, ' not to rob women.' They soon won the con-
fidence and respect of the inhabitants.

A soldier of this regiment was placed as sentinel before
one of the finest houses in the town, which General ' Butler
intended for his headquarters ; and his orders were that
he should allow nothing to be taken out — nothing to pass
through that door. The sentinel was suddenly disturbed
in his monotonous pacing to and fro before the door of the
mansion by the appearance of a smart young girl, who, with
an air half timid and half coaxing, said — 'Sir, I suppose
you will permit me to take these few toys in my apron ?
surely General Butler has no children who require such
things as these ? '

' Young woman ! ' replied the sentry, in a sternly abrupt
tone, that quite awed his petitioner, ' my orders are per-
emptory— not a toy, or thing of any kind, can pass this
door while I am here. But, miss,' added the inflexible
guardian, in quite a different tone, ' if there is such a
thing as another door, or a back window, you may take
away as many toys as you can find, or whatever else you
wish — I have no orders against it ; and the more you take
the better I'll be pleased, God knows.' The palpable hint
was adopted, and it is to be hoped that something more
than the toys was saved to the owners of the mansion.

Even 'Billy Wilson's Zouaves,' a few of whom were
admitted to be of the class known to police definition as
' dangerous,' sustained the honourable fame of the Irish
soldier, though coming to the South as ' invaders.' These
lambs consisted almost exclusively of Irish, and the de-
scendants of Irish, and had the reputation of being amongst
the roughest of the population of New York. ' They were
a hard lot — many a hard case among them lads,' said an
Irishman, describing them. Still, such was their good con-

556 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

duct in the South, especially in Louisiana, that the planters
regarded them rather as protectors than enemies. A Creole
lady from Teche county in that State lately wrote to her
nephew, who had been on General Dick Taylor's staff,
requesting him to hunt up Colonel Wilson, and thank him
in her name and his, and to assure him of their continued
remembrance of his kindness, and the generous conduct of
his men.

I myself heard from the lips of Southerners praises of
the gallantry and generosity of these terrible fighters.

The First Division of the Second Corps of the Army of
the Potomac was marching, in November, 1862, through
London Valley, passing the house of General Ashby, a
Confederate officer who had been recently killed. The
Irish Brigade was at the head of the column. Orders
had been given that property should be respected, that
nothing should be touched. As the Brigade was passing
the house, a number of chickens, scared by the unusual
display, fluttered right into the ranks, and between the
feet of the men. The hungry Irishmen looked at each
other with a comical expression, as the foolish birds ap-
peared to rush into the very jaws of danger — or the opening
of the haversack ; and many a poor fellow mentally specu-
lated on the value of each of the flutterers in a stew. The
sense of the humorous was speedily dispelled. In the
piazza, down on her knees, her hands tossed wildly above
her head, was an old woman, thin, stern, white-haired ;
and as the Brigade was passing she poured — literally
shrieked out — curses on all those who fought for the
' murderers of her son.' To Irishmen the curse of the
widow or the childless carries with it an awful sound and
a terrible import. With averted eyes the gallant men of
the Brigade marched past the white-haired mother who,
frantic in her bereavement, knew not what she said.

Very frequently the most injurious accounts of the Iris'i
heralded their arrival in a locality ; but it invariably

THE RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE. 557

happened, wherever they were quartered, that those who
regarded their coining with apprehensi9n deplored their
departure as a calamity; and numerous instances might
be told of communities memorialising the authorities for
their continued stay — the people justly considering them
as their best protectors amid the insecurity and licence of
the moment.

There is a passage in a diary kept by Father Sheeran,
which exemplifies the conduct of the Irish soldier better
than any description could do. Father Sheeran was one
day rebuking a simple Irishman, who with others had heen
taken prisoner by a surprise attack upon the Federals, for
having taken part, as he alleged he had, in the plunder
and oppression of the South. The Irishman's reply, while
bearing the impress of truth, represents accurately what
was the feeling and conduct of his countrymen during the
war.

' AVell father,' said he, ' I know they done them things,
'but I never took part with them. Many a day I went
'hungry before I would take anything from the people.
' Even when we had to fall back from Lynchburg under
' Hunter thro' Western Virginia, and our men were drop-
' ping by the roadside with hunger, and some were eating
' the bark off the trees, I never took a meal of victuals
' without paying for it.'

The truth is, not only was the Irishman free from the
angry passions by which others were animated, but he was
constantly impressed by the strongest religious influence ;
and to this cause may be ascribed much of the chivalrous
bearing which he displayed in the midst of the most try-
ing temptation to licence and excess. The war had in it
nothing more remarkable than the religious devotion of
the Irish soldier whenever he was within the reach of a
chaplain. The practice of their faith, whether before battle
or in retreat, in camp or in bivouac, exalted them into
heroes. The regiment that, in some hollow of the field,

558 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

knelt down to receive, bare-headed, the benediction of
their priest, next moment rushed into the fray with a wilder
cheer and a more impetuous dash. That benediction
nerved, not unmanned, those gallant men, as the enemy
discovered to their cost. Even in the depth of winter,
when the snow lay thick on the earth, the Irish Catholic —
Federal or Confederate, it mattered not which — would hear
mass devoutly on the bleak plain or the wild hill-side,
standing only when that posture was customary, and
kneeling in the snow and slush during the greater portion
of the time. The same Father Sheeran to whom I have
referred, told me how he was impressed with the piety of
his poor fellows on one desperate Christmas morning,
when, so heavy was the snow-storm, that he quite lost
his way, and did not for a considerable time reach the ap-
pointed place where he was to celebrate mass. But there,
when he arrived, was a great crowd of whitened figures
clustered round the little tent, in which an altar had been
erected by the soldiers — the only cleared place being the
spot on which the tent was placed. And there, while the
storm raged, and sky and earth were enveloped in the
whirling snow, the gallant Irishmen prayed with a fervour
that was proof against every discouragement.

Before battle, it was not unusual for the Catholic
soldiers to go to confession in great numbers, and prepare
by a worthy communion to meet whatever fate God might
send them in the coming fight. This practice excited
the ridicule — the quiet ridicule — of some, but it also
excited the respect of others. A distinguished colonel, of
genuine American race, who bore on his body the marks of
many wounds, life memorials of desperate fights, was speak-
ing to me of the gallantry of the Irish ; and he thus wound
up : ' Their chaplain — a plucky fellow, sir, I can tell you
— had extraordinary influence over them ; indeed he was
better, sir, I do believe, than any provost-marshal. They
would go to mass regularly, and frequently to confession.

NOT KNOWING WHAT HE PREACHED ON. 559

'Tis rather a curious thing I'm going to tell you ; but it's
true, sir. When I saw those Irishmen going to confession,
and kneeling down to receive the priest's blessing, I used
to laugh in my sleeve at the whole thing. The fact is —
you will pardon me — I thought it all so much damned
tomfoolery and humbug. That was at first, sir. But I
found the most pious of them the very bravest — and that
astonished me more than anything. Sir, I saw these
men tried in every way that men could be tried, and I
never saw anything superior to them. Why, sir, if I
wanted to storm the gates of hell, I didn't want any
finer or braver fellows than those Irishmen. I tell you,
sir, I hated the " blarney " before the war ; but now I feel
like meeting a brother when I meet an Irishman. I saw
them in battle, sir; but I also saw them sick and dying
in the hospital, and how their religion gave them courage
to meet death with cheerful resignation. Well, sir,' —
and the great grim war-beaten soldier softly laughed as
he added — ' I am a Catholic now, and I no longer scoff at
a priest's blessing, or consider confession a humbug. I can
understand the difference now, I assure you.'

There were other converts of the battle-field and the hos-
pital, besides my friend the colonel — and of higher rank,
too — who, like him, caught their first impression of the
truth from the men whom religion made more daring in
the fight, more resigned in sickness, more courageous in
death.

Archbishop Purcell, the oldest of the bishops of the
American Church, was invited to preach in one of the
camps of. the Army of the Cumberland ; and he delivered
on that occasion an admirable discourse, which elicited the
warm approval of non-Catholics, and excited the enthu-
siastic admiration of the Irish soldiers ; one of whom said
to his comrade — ' Did you hear that, Mick ? ' c To be sure
I did,' replied Mick. ' Yes, man ; but what did you think
of it? — wasn't it the real touch?' 'Well, in my opinion,

560 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

if I'm to give one — and mind 'twas you asked for it — the
Archbishop didn't know what he was preaching on.'
' Why, what the d — 1 do you mean ? — what's come over
you ? ' 'I tell you again — and it's only my opinion — the
opinion of a poor gommal, if you like — the Archbishop
didn't know what he was preaching on. Look, man, what
he was standing on 1 ' Sure enough, the Archbishop did
not know what he was preaching on ; for there was suffi-
cient in the boxes under his feet to blow up the Vatican
and the College of Cardinals.

An Irish soldier, wounded badly, was lying on a hard-
fought field in Upper Georgia, towards Chattanooga. He
was found by a chaplain attached to his corps in a helpless
condition, leaning against a tree. The priest seeing the
case to be one of imminent danger, proposed to hear his
confession, but was surprised to hear him say — ' Father,
I'll wait a little. There's a man over there worse wounded
than I am ; he is a Protestant, and he's calling for the
priest — go to him first.' The priest found the wounded
Protestant, received him into the Church, and remained
with him till he expired ; he then returned to hear the
confession of the Irish Catholic, whose first words were
— ' Well, Father, didn't I tell you true ? I knew the poor
fellow wanted you more than I did.' The priest and the
penitent are still alive to tell the story.

• Here is one of a thousand instances of the fact that the
religious influence did not impair the martial ardour of the
Irish soldier. The colours of a Tennessee regiment were
carried into action at Murfreesboro' by a young Irishman,
named Charles Quinn, of the famous Jackson Guard.
In the charge Quinn received a musket wound in the
body ; but instead of going to the rear, for his injury
was desperate, he placed his left hand on his wound, abso-
lutely refusing to give up the colours, until in the thick
of the inelee he was pierced through the head, and fell
lifeless. The sole effects of this gallant Irishman came

CLEANLINESS OF THE IRISH SOLDIER. 561

into possession of his heroic captain, afterwards one of the
finest colonels in the service ; and these were an ' Agnus
Dei' and a set of beads!

The fact is incontestable, that the extraordinary health
enjoyed by the Irish who fought at either side was owing
in a great degree to their remarkable attention to cleanli-
ness. There are obvious reasons to explain why in the
old country the constant practice of this homely virtue is
not a striking characteristic of the race. Poverty is de-
pressing in its influence, and somewhat neutralises that
pride which manifests itself in outward appearance ; and,
besides, where, as is too often the case in Ireland, the
grand battle of life is for a bare subsistence — just as much
as keeps body and soul together — cleanliness is too apt to
be lost sight of, or regarded as a luxury beyond the pos-
session of the poor. But were one to draw a national
inference from the habit of the Irish soldiers in the war,
one might fairly assert that cleanliness was one of the
marked and special peculiarities of the Irish race. So
universal lias been the testimony on this point, that doubt
would be like wanton scepticism. Whether in barrack, in
camp, or on the march, the Irish soldier maintained a repu-
tation for personal cleanliness. When the war commenced,
and while the troops were yet in all the newness of their
uniforms, others may have been smarter, or more dandified,
than the Irish ; but when the stern work commenced in
earnest, and uniforms were faded from exposure and
hardship; or torn by lead and steel, and when the dandy
of the barrack-yard or the garrison town had degenerated
into a confirmed sloven, the Irishman was at once neat
and jaunty in his war-worn rags. Whatever the length of
the day's march, or the severity of the fatigue, if the
troops came to a river, or brook, or pond, or even the
tiniest trickling rivulet, the Irishman was sure to be at the
water, as if with the instinct of a duck. He plunged into
the river to enjoy the grand refreshment of a swim, or if

662 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

it were not deep enough to afford that healthful luxury,
he washed himself thoroughly in its shallow stream ; and
even though his shirt were in ribands, as was too often
the lot of the campaigner, it should at least be clean, if
water could make it so. I was amused to hear a pro-
fessor of Georgetown College, himself an Irishman, describe
the comical terror of the authorities of that noble insti-
tution, when they were informed that the three wells which
supplied the establishment were in danger of running
dry, owing to the incessant ablutions of a famous Irish
regiment — the 69th — quartered there previous to the
battle of Bull Run. No cat that ever polished her fur
into velvetty softness was more careful of her coat than
the Irish soldiers — Federal or Confederate — were of the
cleanliness of their persons and their clothing, such as it
was. In fact, the fiercer the conflict became, the more fully
were the soldierly qualities of the Irish developed : and when
repeated disasters and reverses produced their demoralising
influences on others, the irrepressible buoyancy of the
Celtic temperament sustained the spirit and invigorated
the frame of the hardy Irishman. But, from first to last,
cleanliness was one of their prominent characteristics.
And this I state on the highest authority at both sides
of the line.

The following may show the value which Irish soldiers
attached to their fighting qualities : —

After the famous battle of Manassas, won by the Con-
federates, the victors were gathering the wounded to con-
vey them to the nearest hospitals. The Confederates were
generally the first attended to. But an Irish soldier hap-
pening to recognise in a wounded Federal an old acquain-
tance from his own parish 'in the ould country,' at once
raised him from the ground, and placing him tenderly on
his shoulder carried his helpless friend to a camp hospital
which had been just improvised, and attended to him as
well as he could. Next morning, at an early hour, he

RESPECT FOll THE LAWS OF WAR. 663

proceeded to the hospital, to enquire after the patient,
and learn how he had got through the night. He found a
sentinel at the door, who barred the passage with his
bayonet. ' You won't lave me pass, won't ye ! — not to see
the poor lad from my own parish ! ' ' Faith, I can't ; 'tis
again orders,' was the reluctant reply of the Irishman on
guard, as he still presented the weapon. 'Yerra, man,
stand out of the way with you, and don't bother me ! —
hav'n't we done the height of the fighting oh both sides ? '
The boastful query, coupled with the good-humoured
violence with which the bayonet was shoved aside, were
too much for the Hibernian, who, shouldering his rifle,
consoled himself with the remark — ' Look at that ! Faith,
one can see that fellow doesn't know much of the laws
of war, or he'd respect a sintry. Well, no matter ; his
intention is good, any way.'

Here is a case where an Irishman emphatically rebuked
an adversary on the field of battle, because of his violation
of that law of 'war which prescribes fair fighting as essential.

Early in June, 1863, the Federals were advancing to the
attack of Secessionville battery, on James's Island, in
Charleston Harbor. Their pickets occupied some negro
houses and barns at Legree Point. Captain Klyne, of the
100th Pennsylvania, was in command of the picket. The
Charleston battalion and other troops were sent to meet
the enemy ; and so furious was the dash made by a com-
pany of the Old Irish Volunteers, under Captain Ryan,
who led his men with characteristic gallantry, that the
commander of the Federal picket surrendered as a prisoner
of war. As Captain Klyne was in the act of surrender-
ing, a German sergeant was bringing his rifle into posi-
tion to shoot the Captain of the Volunteers, when one
of the Irishmen — Jerry Hurley — who witnessed the mo-
tion, flung down his rifle, rushed at the German, caught
him by the neck, and, putting his leg dexterously under
him, brought him to the ground in the most scientific

564 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

manner, and then commenced to pummel Mm unmerci-
fully with his fists, at the same time shouting — ' Blast
your sowl, you infernal Dutchman ! didn't you hear your
Captain surrender? Is that what you call fighting in
your country? Faith, I'll teach you a lesson that you
won't forget in a hurry, my bould boy. Bad luck to you !
is it murder you wanted to commit this fine morning?
Come along with me, and I'll learn you better manners the
next time.' The poor German, who howled tremendously
beneath the shower of blows rained on him by the in-
furiated Irishman, accepted the position, and followed his
conqueror, as he and his company rapidly retired after
their successful dash.

In the case just mentioned, it was Irishman against
German, Confederate against Federal ; but here is an in-
stance in which, under rather extraordinary circumstances,
it was Irishman against Irishman. During one of the
famous battles of the %war, a young Irishman named Peter
Hughes was wounded in the thigh by a musket ball, and
fell helpless on the field. At the same moment, a comrade
of his, Michael M'Fadden, received a shot in the groin,
and fell prostrate on poor Hughes. Hughes had two in-
firmities— an irritable temper, and a deplorable stutter ;
and neither of these was improved by the pain of his
wound and the weight of his comrade. He could not
shake M'Fadden off, nor could M'Fadden help remaining
as he fell; so Hughes remonstrated with the superin-
cumbent mass in this fashion — ' Da — a — a — m — n yo — u
— u! isn't this fie — 1 — Id la — a — rge en — 11 — o — ough to
—to fall in, witho — o — out turn — urn — urn — bling on
m — m — e ? ' M'Fadden protested his innocence, declaring
he was not a free agent in the matter, and that if he had
his choice, he would prefer not falling at all ; but Hughes
would take no excuse, and insisted on M'Fadden turn —
um — um — bling off a — a — gain — where, he didn't care.
M'Fadden could not stir, but Hughes would not believe in

A NON-COMBATANT DEFENDING HIS CASTLE. 565

his protestations or his inability to move ; so from words
they came to blows, and it was in the midst of a regular
' mill ' that they were found by the Infirmary corps, by
whom the combatants were separated and carried to hos-
pital, where Hughes recovered from his wound, and
somewhat improved his temper ; but for his stutter there
was no hope whatever — that was beyond cure.

The indignation of an Irishman at the injury done to
his property by an artillery duel in Charleston Harbor
was narrated to me with great relish by a countryman of
his. The property consisted of a house and lot for which
the owner had paid $1,500 in 'hard cash.' The house
was within 150 yards of Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's
Island, and almost in the line of fire from Fort Sumter.
The firing was brisk, and many a ball whisked by, one
occasionally passing through the tenement, or taking a
fragment off a chimney, which seemed to be a favourite
target for practice. The owner, who would remain to
' watch his property,' was remonstrated with, and advised
to leave the place, and not risk his life. ' Risk my life !
I care more about my house ; and the devil a one of me
will leave it while them blackguards are battering at it this
way.' For a day and a night he walked up and down,
'protecting his property/ and occasionally relieving his
mind by cursing Major Anderson, to whom he attributed
personal spite and malignity of the blackest dye. As a tile
or a bit of the chimney was carried away, he would exclaim,
' Oh blood! isn't this a mighty hard case ? Why then, Major
Anderson, may ould Nick fly away with you, and that you
may never come back — that's my prayer, sure enough.' —
'There again! — there's more of your purty tricks! The
devil run buck-hunting with you, Major Anderson.' ' My
curse on you, hot and heavy, Major Anderson, that wouldn't
leave a decent man's little property alone.' At length,
one unlucky shot tore away five feet of the chJmney, which
came clattering to the ground in a shower of bricks and

566 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

mortar. 'There now! I said he'd do it, and he's done it
without doubt. Why then, Major Anderson, may I never
be father over my children if I won't make you pay for
this work, if there's law to be had for love or money.
You're in for it now, my fine joker — and I'm the lad to salt
you — see if I don't!'

Fortunately no amount of cannonading could destroy
the 'lot,' and the injury to the chimney, with an odd
ventilator or two in the shape of shot-holes, were the
entire results of Major Anderson's 'mean spite' against
the owner of this critically circumstanced property ; so,
when the chimney was rebuilt, and the holes were filled
up, the temper of the proprietor was restored to its ac-
customed serenity. And the time even came when he
could tell with much humour how sturdily he defended
his castle from the guns of Fort Sumter.

I was much amused at hearing a crusty American over-
seer of the genuine old school tell an anecdote of an Irish-
man with whom he was well acquainted. At the battle of
Manassas, this Irishman, whose name was Morriss, of the
18th Mississippi, when the order was given to his company
to lie down and reload, and thus allow the storm of shell
and balls to pass over their heads, retained his erect posi-
tion, crying out — 'By japers! I didn't come here, to lie
down and fight ; I came here to stand up and fight like a
man.' His clothes were riddled with bullets, and his flesh
was torn in a few places, but he escaped all serious injury,
as if by a miracle. After a hard chuckle at the fun of the
thing, the Southerner added — ' From now on, that Irish-
man could get along without ever doing another lick of
work ; but Morriss is an industrious man, and a good
gardener, and he can help himself quite enough.'

Of the various conflicts of which the harbour of Charles-
ton was the scene, that which took place on the 9th of
October, 1863, when an attack was made on Fort Sumter,
then in the possession of the Confederates, may by men-

DEFENDED WITH BRICKBATS. 567

tioned, on account of the rather novel mode of defence
successfully adopted by a portion ' of the garrison. The
United States troops, under Gilmore, were at Morris
Island, and the celebrated Dahlgren had command of the
fleet. Fort Sumter was defended by Major Elliot; the
garrison consisting of the Charleston battalion — which
was 'pretty much Irish' — with two companies of Artillery.
The Old Irish Volunteers, the representatives of an organi-
sation dating back more than seventy years, were entrusted
with the defence of the east wall or rampart. About one
o'clock at night the Captain in command of the Irish Vol-
unteers discovered a small boat evidently reconnoitering,
and at once gave the alarm. In a few moments after, a
large body of Federals, aided by 600 men from the fleet,
commenced a vigorous assault. The fort was not taken
by surprise, owing to the vigilance of the Irish Captain,
whose command faced the channel ; and the enemy were
fired upon before they could effect a landing. In a short
time a brisk attack was made on the southern and eastern
face. The southern face was opposite to Morris Island,
and was attacked by the land force. In little more than a
quarter of an hour the Federal fire on the east side slack-
ened, while it waa sustained with warmth on the south.
This cessation of fire on the eastern side excited the
renewed suspicion of the Captain in command ; and on re-
connoitering, it was found that a number of the attacking
force had effected a lodgment on, or rather in, the face of
the rampart, which in this pl^ce had been hollowed out
by previous and repeated bombardments. The assailants,
who were thus out of the range of fire, and who believed
that the fort was almost in their possession, laughed with
derisive scorn when called on from above to surrender.
Lodged in the very face of the wall or rampart, not only
were they thus out of the reach of the guns, but not even
a rifle could be conveniently brought to bear against them.
What were the defenders to do, in this case ? * Why, pelt

668 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

them out of that, to be sure.' The men were ordered to
lay down their arms, for the moment valueless, and make
the best use they could of the fragments of brickwork
with which the ramparts were abundantly supplied. The
Old Irish Volunteers entered into the fun of the thing
amazingly ; it was quite an unexpected source of diversion,
and so they vigorously proceeded to roll masses of masonry
down the face of the rampart, and pelt brickbats at the
partly-hidden foe from every possible vantage-ground,
while joke and jibe, most galling to the assailants, ran
along the line, like a brisk fire of small arms.- The
amusement was pleasant enough for the gentlemen on
the rampart, but not at all so agreeable to their un-
expected visitors below; and after enduring the novel
species of artillery as long as they possibly could, the
latter surrendered. 103 of the enemy, including 10 or 12
officers, yielded to the gentle influence of the brickbats,
not being desirous of any longer keeping up the game of
'cock-throw,' of which the fun was altogether one-sided,
and against them.

All apprehension of further danger being at an end, the
Irishmen made the Federal officers welcome to the best
entertainment in their power to afford; But the rough
fare did not seem to please the captives, one of whom
rather superciliously remarked, that he understood the
Southerners had the character of being a hospitable
people ; but if they treated their guests on other occasions
no better than they treated them then, they might possibly
forfeit their character for that virtue.

The Irish Captain, after making a punctilious bow,
worthy of a Chesterfield, thus replied: —

'Well, Sir, I would be sorry that, through me, the
State should lose its well-earned reputation for hospitality;
but* it is usual, even in the South, when visitors, especially
a considerable number, as in your case, intend to honour
a gentleman by taking up their quarters at his house

•NOBLESSE OBLIGE.- 669

that they should give some intimation of their intention ;
or if they were resolved on making a "surprise party" of
it, as was evidently the intention in the present instance,
they should provide for themselves/

The joke was once more against the assailants ; but as it
was not so bad as the brickbats, it was received in good
humour, and captors and captives were soon on the best
terms.

The same officer who indulged his men in the exciting
game of brickbats on the eastern rampart of Fort Sumter,
was in command of a sand-bank battery of three guns,
situate between two narrow marshes, the solid land being
about eighty yards in front. It was one of the most
important positions in the defence of Charleston, and was
not taken until the evacuation of the city. On the 16th
of June, 1862, the Federals made a desperate attempt to
take this battery, but were foiled by the pluck with which
the Irishmen defended it against overwhelming odds until
they were reinforced ; the body of the Confederates being
800 yards distant when the attack commenced. And never
was pluck more called for than on this occasion, owing to
the panic which seized the commander of the picket in front
of the fort. That officer suddenly rushed in, right over the
battery, having made no resistance to the advancing enemy,
whose numbers scared away his wits for the moment.

' What means this conduct ? ' sternly enquired the Irish-
man.

'Oh, you can do nothing — it's impossible — you must
retire — the enemy are in overwhelming strength — it's no
use — it's madness to resist them — you can do nothing
against such desperate odds.'

1 You can retire if you please, and nobody will be any-
thing the wiser ; but if / left my post, the whole world
would know of it ; and sooner than do anything that would
affect the honour and reputation of Irishmen, or of Ireland,
I'd stay here till Doomsday.'

570 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

This was no vain boast ; for, after expending their am-
munition, the Irishmen fought with clubbed muskets, and
with such savage energy, that the enemy were kept at bay,
and the important position held until the body of the
Confederates had time to come up. Then commenced
a battle which fiercely raged from the early dawn of that
summer's morning to half-past 8 o'clock, when the Fede-
rals were compelled to retire. It was known as the Battle
of Secessionville, and was admitted to be one of the se-
verest of the war in the South.*

At one of the battles in Virginia a company of Con-
federates charged a company of Federals. The latter
yielded to the impetuosity of the charge, gave way, and
fled, all save one man alone, who said — ' You may kill me
if you plaze, but not all the rebel army will make me run.'
The cool courage of the soldier at once disarmed hostility.
'Then will you surrender?' he was asked. 'Oh, yes, there
is no disgrace in that,' he replied; 'I surrender.' So long

* In one of the engagements which have made Charleston memorable in the
history of the world, there fell one of the most promising young soldiers of the
war, — Captain John Mitchell, son of the famous Irishman of that name ; who
lost two of his sons in battle, while a third was repeatedly and desperately
wounded. Captain John Mitchell was the idol of his men, for his gay and
gallant spirit, his wit, his humour, his playfulness and gentleness of disposition,
combined with the courage of a lion. How he fell, and what was the estimate
formed of him, will be best told in the words of General Beauregard, the illus-
trious defender of Charleston : —

•Near PETERSBURG, VA., AugtistG, 1864.

'Dear Sir,— I trust the condition of affairs here will be my excuse for not
having addressed you sooner relative to the irreparable loss you sustained lately
in the death of your gallant son, Capt. John Mitchell. He served under my
orders during the most trying periods of the siege of Charleston. At Fort Sumter,
Battery Simkins, and on Morris Island, he displayed such coolness, energy, and
intelligence, that I selected him, from many aspirants ambitious of the honour,
to replace Col. Elliott in the command of Fort Sumter whenever circumstances
compelled that gallant officer to absent himself from that important post.

'In your bereavement you should derive consolation from the thought, that
your son fell at his post, gloriously battling for the independence of his country,
carrying with him the regret of his friends and the respect of his enemies.

« I remain, with respect, your most obedient servant,
•G. T. BEAUREGARD.

'John Mitchell, Esq.'

PAT'S LITTLE GAME. 571

as he remained a prisoner, he was a great favourite with his
captors — one of whom I heard narrate the circumstance.

To the quick-wittedness and coolness of an Irishman the
Federals were indebted for their preservation from no
small disaster, and the Confederates for serious loss and
great discouragement. Some time after Fort Pulaski, at
the mouth of the Savannah river, had been taken from the
Confederates, a small picket boat, steered by a midshipman,
and rowed by four sailors — two Georgians and two Irish-
men— was making its way cautiously in the direction of
the fort, 'to see how the land lay.' The Irishmen were
Federalists, who had been pressed into the Confederate
navy, and were then, against their inclination, serving on
board the 'Atlantic,' a blockade-runner, which had been
converted into an iron-clad, and still preserved her fast-
^U-aming qualities. The reconnoissance had been made,
and the boat was on her way back, when the officer, taking
off his pea-jacket, called out to the bowman — ' Here, Pat !
catch hold of this, and stow it under the bow;' and he
added — ' Take care how you handle it, you Irish son of a
bitch ; there are revolvers in it.' Quick as thought, the
pistols were taken from the coat by Pat, who handed one
of them to his countryman, and pointed the other at the
midshipman, exclaiming in a voice expressive of merriment
and triumph — 'Now, you son of a bitch, steer us straight
for Fort Pulaski, and' — turning to the Georgians — 'you
sons of bitches, pull us there, or we'll blow the tops off
your bloody heads!' The gallant young fellow had no
option but to do what he was ordered by the possessors of
his revolvers, and the boat was rowed right into the
landing-place of the enemy. Pat was brought before the
officer in command, to whom he imparted the important
intelligence that the ' Atlantic,' for which the Federals had
been constantly on the look-out, was next morning to pass
through St. Augustine's Creek, into Warsaw Sound, thus
avoiding the fort, and getting into the open sea, where she

572 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

was certain to inflict enormous damage on the commerce
of the Union, and sink any vessel that did not equal her in
speed or in power. This was startling intelligence indeed,
for there was but a single gun-boat at the Creek, and this
the 'Atlantic' might disregard, or could destroy. Acting
upon the information, an Irish officer of high rank, who
happened to be at the time in the fort, at once started on
horseback, and never spared whip or spur till he arrived
at Port Royal Bay, where a Federal fleet was stationed.
In a short time two iron-clads and two heavy transports
were steaming for the Creek, where the 'Atlantic' was
caught as if in a trap. The ' Irish son of a bitch ' had the
best of the 'little game.'

I heard an admirable description given by an Irishman
in the Confederate service — an officer who had served with
great distinction — of his countrymen as soldiers. The
portrait is true to the life, and as faithfully represents the
soldier of the Union as the champion of the 'Lost Cause/
I heard the same, though not in the same words, from
Americans at both sides of the line. My friend thus hits
off his compatriots as belligerents : —

'My experience of the Irish in our army was this —
that they could endure more than any men on the face of
the earth. They would march all day, and the officer in
charge would have trouble enough to keep them from
playing tricks on one another ; and when all others, tired
by bodily fatigue, would He down, indifferent to what,
would happen, they would be as lively as ever ; and if
there were a chance of any devilment up, they were bound
to be in the midst of it. This is the universal opinion of
the officers of the Confederate army with respect to the
Irish under their command. They were sometimes difficult
to manage, but the fault did not generally he with them.
Their officer should be worthy of their respect. The first
condition of their confidence is, that he must be worthy of
it — that he is brave and daring — that he can be trusted —

IRISH DEVOTEDNESS. 573

•'
that he won't shirk his duty — that he is ready himself

to do what he asks them to do. Satisfy them on this
essential point, and there is nothing their leader cannot
do with them, or that they won't do for him. They would
readily die for him ; and if there be a bit of fresh meat,
or a chicken, or other delicacy to be had by foraging —
and they are first-rate at that — he is bound to have his '
share of it. There are no keener judges of an officer than
they are ; and woe to the officer who excites their con-
tempt.'

What wonderful devotion to a brave officer by a brave
Irish soldier does not the following present ! I give it in
the words it was told to me : —

My brother, Brevet Lieut.-Col. James F. M/Elhone, Regular Army,
at Gaines? Mills, Va., while commanding the colour company, 14 Inf.
U.S.A., then 1st Lieut., 17 years of age, was wounded late in the day
with a Minie ball in the side, at the time supposed to be mortal. His
' striker,' Michael M-Grath by name, who had brought to the ' ief-
tinint ' a pot of hot tea during a warm fire from the enemy, had no
harsher expression, when a bullet spilled the regretted beverage upon
the ground, than ' Damn ye ! ye didn't know what a divil's own time I
had to get the hot wather, or ye wouldn't have done it.' This noble
fellow remained with his officer upon the field, went with him to
Savage's Station hospital, was a faithful attendant during the battle that
raged there during the ensuing Sunday, accompanied him as prisoner
to Richmond, feigning to be wounded so as to prevent separation,
built a covering of blankets in the railroad dep6t to save him from
rain, successfully exerted in every way a fertile ingenuity to get the
best in a town crowded to suffocation with wounded of both armies
after the seven days' battles ; and finally, when my brother was brought
on parole to Baltimore by sea, and located in a private house used as a
hospital, this Irish soldier I found sitting by his bedside, fanning his
levered brow, and as gentle a nurse almost as any woman could be.

Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 29th June, 1862, as I have already
said, the battle raged fiercely around the hospital, some being killed
and wounded near the building. My brother and M'Grath saw with
anxiety the increasing chances of their falling into the hands of the
enemy. Up came the 69th New York (au Irish Regiment), to the
last charge. My brother, now no more, has relited often that, for the
time, he forgot his own sad plight and acute suffering. Tin-re was a

574 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

ringing hurrah as the hot Irish closed with the foe. Now the Union
flag and the green flag of Ireland are seen to pulsate madly forward ;
there is a temporary chfick 5 the colours stagger, disappear, soon they
fire again lifted, and sweep onward till they mark a position gained
and a battle won. But as the regiment was going into the very ' jaws
of death,' one man in the rear rank cried out to the other, ' Toomey,
man, step out, and don't be afraid,' to which instantly came the angry
reply, ' What sir ! wait till this battle is over, and I'll smash your
darn mug for you.'

Innumerable stories are told of the Irishman's irrepres-
sible love of fight. There is not a town that has not its
hero of a hundred tales illustrative of this grand passion
of the race. There was a soldier in the South who, during
a lull, would be 'detailed' to make shoes for the men;
but, whenever there was a certainty of Terry Nolan's
hearing 'the music' — of the whistling rifle-bullets and
the singing shells — then he was seen trotting towards his
line, with his rifle on his shoulder, ready to take his part
in the concert. Terry's appearance was quite as conclu-
sive as an order of the day, for with infallible scent he
sniffed the battle from afar ; and as the valliant Crispin
took his place in his company he was invariably hailed
with a cheer. The men knew they were in for it when
Terry showed his Celtic visage, with the light of battle
gleaming in his eyes.

'Why then, Captain,' said a great strapping Irishman to
the commander of his company, as he scratched his head
with a kind of bashfulness that sat rather ill on him, —
' why then, Captain, could you tell us when we're going to
have something to do ? The boys want a fight bad ; they
hadn't one now for a long time, and sure they can't be
always without a scrimmage of some kind or another, just
to keep their hand in, as one may say.'

' I tell you, my man,' replied the Captain, ' you'll have
quite enough of it soon.'

' Faith, Captain, I'm thinking it's you don't care for it
yourself, and that's the raison the poor boys don't get it,'

THE LOVE OF FIGHT. 675

replied the disappointed ambassador, with a look of un-
disguised contempt.

That captain did not remain long with his company.

A colonel told me that, previous to one of the famous
battles of the war, he had given his second horse in care
of his orderly, an Irishman, named Moloney, with positive
instructions to keep it for him in reserve; but that scarce-
ly had the firing well commenced than he saw Moloney
spurring 'his, the colonel's, horse, brandishing his sword,
and rushing into the thick of the fight. The colonel could
not sacrifice his horse, even to gratify his orderly's warlike
ardour ; so poor Moloney was captured, and ingloriously
led back. 'How dare you, sir, disobey my orders?' asked
the indignant coloneL 'Why, colonel, I felt I'd be dis-
graced if I hadn't a dash at them with the boys. Yes,
faith, colonel, I could never hold up my head again.' 'It
was a bare-faced excuse, sir,' said the colonel, when telling
the story, — 'it was nothing but sheer love of fight; for
Moloney hadn't to make his character then — he had a good
record long before.'

Even when wounded and sick in hospital, the 'music'
was too attractive to be resisted, if they could contrive to
get on their legs at all. An American officer mentioning
instances of the kind, said : —

'At the Battle of Shiloh an Irishman of this company
received a very severe flesh wound in the shoulder, and
was carried back to the Infirmary depot, as all supposed,
disabled for several months. We became hotly engaged
soon after, and to my surprise I saw this man in the ranks
of his company, fighting like a tiger, the blood running
freely from his arm. As soon as I could, I enquired of him
why he was not at the hospital. 'Oh, colonel,' he said,
' when I heard the guns going I was afraid the boys would
be lonesome without me, so you see I came to keep them
company; besides, my arm is not so bad, after all.'

It would be difficult to say at which side of the line

676 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the fighting qualities of the Irish were held in highest
esteem by those who were opposed to them ; for while
the Southern has often said 'Send away your damned
Irish, and we'll whip you well,' the Northers, as fre-
quently said, 'If all in the South fought like the Irish,
Secession would long since be an accomplished fact.'
General Patrick Cleburne, confessedly one of the best men
of the war, used to say that he never had tougher work
than when he met the Northern Irish — that Sweeney gave
him the hardest fighting he ever had.

A general who commanded a Southern brigade, in which
half — that is 5,000 out of the 10,000 who from time to
time recruited its ranks as volunteers — were Irish, thus
spoke of them to me : —

'If to-morrow I wanted to win a reputation, I would
have Irish soldiers in preference to any others ; and I tell
you why. First, they have more dash, more elan than
any other troops that I know of; then they are more
cheerful and enduring — nothing can depress them. Next,
they are more cleanly. The Irishman never failed to wash
himself and his clothes. Not only were they cheerful, but
they were submissive to discipline when once broken in — •
and where they had good officers that was easily done ; but
once they had confidence in their officers, their attachment
to them was unbounded. And confidence was established
the moment they saw their general in the fight with them.
Afterwards they would say — "You keep back, General —
tell us where to go, and we'll be sure to go ; but we don't
want you to be killed ; for, faith, we don't know what
would become of us then." They required strict discipline;
but they always admitted the justice of their punishment
when they believed their commander was impartial; and
they never were sullen, or bore malice. . There was one
great element of strength in these men — they were volun-
teers, every man of them. Many could have been excused
on the ground of their not being American citizens, as not

TESTIMONIES TO THE IRISH SOLDIER. 577

more than one-third of them had a right to vote at the
time ; but they joined of their own free will — no Irishman
was conscripted. I repeat, if I had to take from one to
10,000 men to make a reputation with, I'd take the same
men as I had in the war — Irishmen from the city, the
levees, the river, the railroads, the canals, or from ditching
and fencing on the plantations. They make the finest
soldiers that ever shouldered a musket.' And this was the
testimony of one of the fiercest fighters of the war.

Another officer of rank says what he thinks of the Irish: —

c My opinion of the Irish is partial. I commanded many
of them, and I can appreciate their value. None were
more gallant, or none more faithful to our cause ; and it
was owing to there being so many of them at the other
side that we failed. Those I commanded were some of
the best soldiers I ever saw ; but I think they are better
when they are by themselves, in companies or regiments.
Good soldiers indeed ! they worked, and fought, and
starved, just as required of them. The feeling of the
South is of the warmest character to them. If the war
started afresh, I'd raise an entirely Irish regiment, in
preference to any other. They would be more under
discipline, and could be controlled better than a mixed
regiment. I admit that when they are in the camp, and
there is nothing for them to do, they may get into mischief ;
but in the field they are thoroughly reliable.'

Here is the testimony of one who knew the Irish well.
It is a chaplain who speaks : and though he saw them in
battle, he knew more of them when the fight was over : —

' Commanders prefer them, not only for their bravery,
but their cheerfulness, and for their cleanliness and neat-
ness as soldiers. When others would be resting, the Irish-
men would be washing their clothes, and would then play
games in their buff till they were dried. They were true
soldiers — tigers in battle, lambs after. It was beautiful
to witness their conduct to the enemv ; they were kind as

25

4*

578 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

women to them, assisting the wounded, dividing their rations
•with them — losing every feeling of anger and hostility.'

Testimonies without number might be quoted ; but one
from a soldier whose fame is European, may well stand in
the place of many. It is General Beauregard who thus
gravely records his deliberate and weighty judgment of the
Irish : ' Relative to the soldierly qualities of the Irish who
' took a part in our late war, I beg to state, that they dis-
1 played the sturdy and manly courage of the English, com-
' bined with the impetuous and buoyant character of the
*' French. They required, at times, only discipline, which is
' always attained under good officers, to be equal to the
' best soldiers of any country. They always exhibited on
' the field of battle great gallantry, and during the opera-

* tions of a campaign showed much patience and fortitude.
( They joined the Confederate ranks at the first call of the
' country for volunteers, and remained to the last, devoted
1 and true to the cause they had zealously espoused. They
1 were found to be always the worthy companions of the
1 gallant Confederate soldiers with whom they fought, side

* by side, during over four years of an internecine struggle.'

'Whichever way,' says a Northern general with a
splendid ' record,' ' we turn for the history of Irish Ameri-
cans, the case is the same ; we meet with nothing but cause
for honest pride — they are true patriots, good citizens, and
splendid soldiers.'

' Ah, Sir ! ' said General Longstreet, whom I met in New
Orleans, 'that was one of the handsomest things in the
whole war ! ' What was this handsomest thing of the war ?
The manner in which the Irish Brigade breasted the death
storm from St. Mary's Heights of Fredericksburg. Six
times in the face of a withering fire, before which whole
ranks were mowed down as corn before the sickle, did the
Irish Brigade rush up that hill — rush to inevitable death. ' I
looked with my field-glass,' said the Adjutant-General of
General Hancock's staff, 'and I looked- for a long time

THE HANDSOMEST THING OF THE WAR. 579

before I was certain of what I saw. I at first thought
that the men of the Brigade had lain down to allow the
showers of shot and shell to pass over them, for they lay
in regular lines. I looked for some movement, some stir —
a hand or a foot in motion ; but no — they were dead — dead
every man of them — cut down like grass.' In these six
desperate charges that Brigade was almost annihilated.
But there was no flinching for a second. Again and again
they braved that hell-storm, and would have done so again
and again ; but of the 1,200 that bore a green badge in their
caps that morning, nearly a thousand of them lay on the
bloody field, literally mown down in ranks. Little more
than 200 rations were that night issued to the remnant of
that heroic band. 'It was the admiration of the whole
army.' 'Never was there anything superior to it.' But
General Longstreet's eulogium — ' It was the handsomest
thing of the war,' leaves nothing unexpressed. Behind
the stone wall, from which rained the deadliest fire,
delivered within range, and with terrible precision, were
men of the same blood and race as those who were thus
wasting their lives in unavailing devotion. The Georgian
regiment which lined that fatal barrier was mostly Irish :
and from one of those who took part in that day's ter-
rific strife, I heard* some particulars of painful interest.
Colonel Robert M'Millan was in command ; and though
death was in his family, he would not quit his post on that
eventful day. "When the Brigade was seen advancing
from the town, they were at once recognised by their
green badge, that sent a thrill to many a brave but sor-
rowful heart behind that rampart. ' God ! what a pity ! '
said some. ' We're in for it,' said others. ' By heavens !
here are Meagher's fellows,' said more. The voice of the
Colonel rang clear and shrill — ' It's Greek to Greek to-day,
boys — give them hell ! ' And they did. For that deadly
fusilade was the genuine feu d'enfer. Well might one of
the most brilliant of the military historians of the day assert

680 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

that ' never at Fontenoy, at Albuera, or at Waterloo, was
more undoubted courage displayed by the sons of Erin, than
during those six frantic dashes which they directed against
the almost impregnable position of the foe.3 ' It was a sad
but glorious day for our country ; it made us weep, but it
made us proud,' said an Irishman, who helped to lay those
thousand dead in their bloody grave.

A German Staff Officer of the Confederates says of the
Irish Brigade, how they fought in the memorable seven
days' fight in front of Richmond : —

The attack was opened by the columns of Hill (1st). Anderson, and
Pickett. These gallant masses rushed forward with thundering hurrahs
upon the musketry of the foe. as though it were a joy to them. Whole
ranks went down under that terrible hail, but nothing could restrain
their courage. The billows of battle raged fiercely onward; the
struggle was man to man, eye to eye, bayonet to bayonet. The hostile
Meagher's Brigade, composed chiefly of Irishmen, offered heroic resis-
tance. After a fierce struggle our people began to give way, and at
length all orders and encouragements were vain— they were falling
back in the greatest confusion. Infuriate, foaming at the mouth
bare-headed, sabre in hand, at this critical moment General Cobb
appeared upon the field, at the head of his legion, and with the 19th
North Carolina and 14th Virginia regiments. At once these troops
renewed the attack ; but all their devotion and self-sacrifice \veic
in vain. The Irish held their position with a determination and
ferocity that called forth the admiration .of our officers. Broken to
pieces and disorganised, the fragments of that fine legion (Cobb's)
came rolling back from the charge.

Almost while I write these words, I read of the death of-
one who made his name famous in the military annals of
America. Stricken by the Yellow Fever, — that grisly &iug
which has slain more victims by many times than fell at
Fredericksburg, — now lies in his grave a gallant Irishman,
Richard Dowling, of Houston, Texas, who at Sabine Pass
performed one of the most extraordinary feats of the whole
war. This Lieutenant Richard Dowling, — ' Major Dick
Dowling,' as he has since then been familiarly styled, — de-
fending this Pass in an earthen fort, protected by a couple

PATRICK RONAYNE CLEBURNE. 581

of serviceable guns, and manned by 42 Irishmen, crippled
an attacking fleet, baffled an important expedition, and
actually captured of the enemy more than ten times the
number of his gallant band ! From the despatches of the
Federal commanders the world might have imagined that
a legion fought behind that rampart : but the astounding
victory was entirely owing to the accurate aim, sheer pluck,
and matchless audacity of Dick Dowling and his forty-two
Irishmen — to whom the Confederate Congress, as well they
might, passed a solemn vote of the nation's thanks.
Light rest the earth on the breast of all that remains of
gallant Dick Dowling !

As I cannot attempt an enumeration of the various
Irish organisations that won distinction in the war, neither
can I venture on a list of the gallant Irish officers, even
of the highest rank, who signalised themselves by their
achievements in that memorable struggle. I have before
me a long list of men who commanded regiments, brigades,
divisions, and corps ; but fearing that, from iny imperfect
knowledge, I should necessarily fall into error, and be
guilty perhaps of very serious injustice if I relied upon it,
I must adopt the only course left open to me, and deal in
generalities. Then, leaving the praises of men like Shiel
or Sheridan, the Murat of the Union — Irish by blood,
American through birth — to other pens, I shall simply
say that the gallantry and skill of the Irish officer, of
whatever rank, was quite as conspicuous as the dash and
endurance of the rank and file.

But there is a grave amidst the countless graves that
mark the scene of one of the deadliest conflicts of the war,
on which I would drop a kindly tribute — that is the grave
of Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, one of the noblest of the
soldiers of the Confederacy.

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born within a few miles
of the city of Cork. His father — the son of a country
gentleman in Tipperary — was for many years physician of

582 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

the dispensary districts of Ovens and Ballincollig ; his
mother, Miss Konayne, was a lady from Queenstown.
Patrick, the youngest of three sons, was partly educated
for the medical profession ; but his tastes, from his earliest
youth, tending to a military career, and, owing to his
father's second marriage, which resulted in a second and
numerous family, not being able to purchase a commission
as an officer in the British Army, he in his eighteenth
year enlisted in the 41st regiment as a private soldier.
He remained in the service until he was twenty-one, when
he was purchased out by his friends. But these three
years of military training in one of the most thoroughly
disciplined armies of Europe was of incalculable advantage
to him in after life. He emigrated to America when the
war 'broke out ; and it found the young Cork man prac-
tising with success as a lawyer in Helena, Arkansas.

I have been favoured with an admirable biographical
sketch of General Cleburne by his attached friend and
distinguished commander, General W. T. Hardee, one of
the most thoroughly accomplished soldiers of either army ;
and referring the reader to that sketch, which will be
found in the Appendix, I shall here simply indicate what
manner of man was this Patrick Konayne Cleburne, who
learned his knowledge of military drill and discipline in
the ranks of the 41st British regiment of infantry. To
begin, then ; this heroic Irishman, who was as strong as a
wall of granite to the foe, was as simple as a child, and
as modest as a girl ; and that voice that rang like a
trumpet when cannon roared, and balls whistled about his
head, was low and gentle and hesitating when he was
exposed to the most formidable of all batteries to him, a
pair of eyes in the head of any woman of moderate youth
or ordinary attractions. His personnel is thus sketched by
a worthy countryman of his, whom he visited in Mobile, on
the occasion of the marriage of his friend General Hardee,
whose 'best man ' he was on that interesting occasion: ' In

GENERAL CLEBURNE AND HIS OPINIONS. 683

person he was about five feet nine or ten inches high,
slender in form, with a wiry active look. His forehead
was high and broad, with high cheek bones, cheeks rather
hollow, and face diminishing in width towards the chin,
the upper features being more massive than the lower.
The general expression of his countenance in repose was
serious and thoughtful; but in conversation he was ani-
mated and impressive, while his whole air and manner
were remarkably unpretending.'

General Cleburne dining one day with the good Irish-
man whose words I have quoted, informed him that he
had made up his mind during the war to be a total
abstainer, because he found that in his pistol practice and
in playing chess, of which game he was remarkably fond,
even one glass of wine affected his aim, or interfered with
his calculation. ,He determined, therefore, while the war
lasted, and he was responsible for the lives of others, and
the results consequent on the manner in which he should
discharge his duties, that he would abstain altogether from
the use of all kinds of liquor.

Cleburne was in favour of arming the negroes as sol-
diers, conferring upon them and their families freedom as
a bounty. He, with several distinguished generals, signed
a petition to President Davis to that effect, and he per-
sonally offered to take command of a division of such
troops, when raised. But the movement failed on account
of the opposition wrhich it met with. In private conversa-
tion he said that the general sentiment of the world was
against the Confederacy on the question of slavery, and
that Southerners could look nowhere for active sympathy
unless they made some such arrangement as he mentioned :
and he unhesitatingly expressed his belief, that the success
of the cause depended upon its adoption. He did not
pronounce a decided opinion against slavery in the abstract,
but he regarded the system in the South as having
glaring defects and evils, especially the utter disregard

584 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of the married rights of the slaves, which, he said, was
enough to deprive the States in which this evil existed
of the aid of Providence in the war. The opinions held
by General .Cleburne were those emphatically expressed
in writing and from the pulpit by the Catholic Bishops »
of Eichmond and Savannah.*

The opinions of a man of Cleburne's stamp, as to the
character of the Irish as soldiers I give in the words of
the friend who heard them expressed by that great General :
'In reference to the relative merits, as soldiers, of the
' different kind of men in the service, he said he preferred
' the Irish, not on the ground of their courage, for of that
'there was no lack in the Confederate service, but for
' other qualities, highly useful in war. After a long day's
' march they generally had their tents up first ; they were
' more cleanly in their persons ; under the fatigue of hard
'work, or a heavy march, they showed more endurance,
' and recovered sooner ; they were more cheerful under
' privation ; and above all, they were more amenable to
'discipline. These, he said, were highly useful qualities
'in war; and from actual observation he was persuaded
' the Irish soldiers possessed them in a higher degree than
' any other people that came under his eye.'

Cleburne was one of those Irishmen who never could
understand how it was that his countrymen of the North
could join with the 'Yankee' to oppress and crush the
South ; but had he been a lawyer in a Northern or North-
western State, he might have been equally surprised if
any one had accused him of turning his military knowledge
to the same purpose. His countrymen throughout the
Northern States were proud of his splendid reputation;
while in the South it was not considered second to that of
the very greatest of its commanders. And when he died

struck by a storm of bullets, as the fore feet of his horse

were planted on the Federal ramparts — a wail of sorrow

* See Appendix.

IN MEMORIAM. 585

and a shudder of despair passed through the land. A
tower of strength had fallen. The dauntless soldier sleeps
in peace in the cemetery whose solemn beauty elicited
the strange remark, as he gazed on it a few days before he
gloriously fell, ' It is almost worth dying to rest in so sweet
a spot.'

I heard the heroic Irishman thus spoken of by two brave
men — General Buckner and General Hood — who had been
with him in many a memorable fight, and many a bril-
liant victory. Eef erring to his name, the first-named
general said : —

And particularly did I recall the virtues of the Irish character, when
a lew short months ago, I stood, in the twilight hour, over the grave of
one of the noblest sons of Ireland. As I looked upon the plain board
inscribed with his name in pencil lines, and upon the withered flowers
which the fair hands of some of our countrywomen had strewn upon
his grave, I wept silent tears to the glorious memory of General Patrick
Cleburne. He commanded a brigade in my division, and afterwards
succeeded me in the command of troops whom I cannot more highly
praise than to say he was one of the few who was worthy to command
such men. And conspicuous amongst such gallant, men, and worthy
soldiers of such a glorious leader, were Irishmen, who illustrated their
high military virtues on so many fields, and displayed on so many
occasions their fidelity to the cause they had espoused.

And thus spoke General Hood, who bears in many a
scar and wound eloquent testimonies to his desperate but
unavailing gallantry : —

During the late war it was my fortune to have in my command
organisations composed of your countrymen, and it gives me pleasure
to assert that they were always at their post. And among these brave
men was to be found the gallant CJeburne. His name carries me to
the heights near Franklin. And his last remarks, just before moving
forward. I shall ever remember. He said : ' General, I have my division
in two lines, and am ready. General, I am more hopeful of the success
of jour cause than I have ever been since the war commenced.' Within
twenty-five minutes this brave soldier was no more. Within an hour
an army was in mourning over the great loss. Thus ended the career
of this distinguished man — hopeful even at the last hour, but doomed
to disappointment as all other men.

586 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

America is a country of wonders, where things are to be
seen of which the old world mind can have no concep-
tion. But nothing that I beheld impressed me with the
same admiration, and indeed with the same astonishment,
as the manner in which a people, whose tremendous
struggle of four long years' duration enchained the atten-
tion of every civilised nation, returned to the peaceful
pursuits of civil life. To my mind, there was something
great beyond description in this unrivalled spectacle. A
few months before, and the earth resounded with the
clash of armed legions, mightier and more numerous than
any which Europe had assembled for centuries ; and where
is the trace of this colossal conflict in the bearing and de-
portment of the people ? You may behold its marks and
traces in the desolated track of the conqueror ; in the
sedge-broom now usurping the once fruitful soil ; in rifled
and ruined dwellings abandoned to decay ; in burned cities
rising anew from their ashes : in crumbling embankments
and road-side ramparts, which cost so much blood and so
many gallant lives to take or to defend, — but in the calm
dignified attitude of the great American people, who have
sheathed the sword and laid aside the rifle, you cannot
perceive them.

Where, you unconsciously ask, are the soldiers, the
fighting men, the heroes, who bore a distinguished part in
that protracted contest ? Have the brigades, the divisions,
the corps, the armies, of which we read in buUetin and
report — have they sunk into the earth, or have they
vanished in the air? If not, how are these men of war
employed ? — can they settle down to the ordinary pursuits
of life ; or have they been fatally intoxicated by the smoke
and excitement of battle, and utterly demoralised by the
licence of the camp ? You shah" see.

Who is that remarkable-looking man, with something
of the clanking sabre in his carriage, yet with nothing

AFTELl THE WAR. 587

more warlike in his hand than a memorandum book, with
a bundle of harmless papers protruding from the breast-
pocket of a coat that seems to cling to his broad chest as
if it were a uniform? A commercial agent. Yes, now;
but what was he a few months since? One at whose mere
mention wives and mothers paled, and with the incantation
of whose name nurses hushed their fractious charge — a
daring leader of cavalry, whose swoop was as fierce and
sudden as the eagle's.

Here, down in this new city, in the midst of the tall
pines, you see that coach factory, full of waggons, and
buggies of all kinds ; and what is that bearded man em-
ployed at ? A sewing-machine ? Impossible ; it can't be
— and yet it is. Yes, it is. That tall bearded mail held
high rank in his corps ; but, the war over, and hating
idleness, he established this thriving factory; and with his
own hands he is now sewing and embroidering the curtains
of that carriage which is to be sent for in a day or two by
its purchaser.

At yon lawyer's desk, covered with open or tape-bound
documents, an anxious client awaiting his opinion of that
knotty case, sits one, now immersed in the intricacy of a
legal problem, whose natural element seemed to be amid
the thickest press of battle, where squadrons rushed on'
serried bayonets, or dashed at belching batteries.

Calmly giving some minute instruction to a deferential
clerk, respecting a delayed train, or dictating an answer
to some impatient enquiry concerning a missing parcel or
a bale of dry-goods left behind, is a man whose wisdom
and whose courage were the hope of a cause; prudent
in council, skilful in strategy, calm and cool in conflict.

Behind that counter, in that store, or perched on that
office desk, is he who has done so many brilliar,t feats, to
the wonder of the foe, and the rapture of his friends.

Rushing headlong through the street, in his eagerness

588 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to keep some appointment, in which there is to be much
talk of bales of cotton, cargoes of corn, or hogsheads of
strong wine, is the soldier whose movements were of
lightning celerity, who, by right of his lavished blood, had
established a kind of vested interest in every desperate
undertaking.

And here, at this editor's table, with ink, and paste, and
scissors at his elbow, up to his eyes in ' proofs,' and young
'devils' clamorous for 'copy,' you have a dashing colonel,
a fortunate general, a famous artillery officer — now as
tranquilly engaged in the drudgery of his ' daily' as if he
had never led his regiment at the charge, never handled
a division or a corps, or never decided a victory with his
guns; as if, in fact, he had only learned of war in the pages
of Grecian or Roman history, or read of it in one of his
European 'exchanges.'

Hush ! you are in a seat of learning, in which the hope-
ful youth of a great country is being trained for its future
citizenship. You perceive that quiet-looking elderly gen-
tleman smiling kindly on that bright eager lad, as he
speaks to him with gentle voice. That quiet-looking gen-
tleman is the man of men, whose very name was worth an
army to the side he espoused. Every home in America,
every village in Europe, has heard of that quiet-looking
gentleman.

And look again : here is a learned professor instructing
his class — not at all a wonderful sight, you may say; but on
the wide ocean, in every mart of commerce, on every ex-
change, in every nook and corner in which the risks of sea,
enhanced by the casualties of war, are keenly calculated,
there were those who thought by day and dreamed by
night of that learned professor.

Go where you will, in field or mine, in workshop, in
factory, in store, in counting house, in hotel — at either
side of the line — whether on land or water — everywhere —

THE GRANDEST OF ALL SPECTACLES. 589

you behold, now absorbed in honest toil and patient in-
dustry, the men, high and low, of every rank and grade,
and of every nationality too, who, a few months since, were
engaged in desperate strife! This spectacle, which the
Old World has never seen surpassed, is more wonderful
than Niagara, more majestic than the Mississippi, more
sublime than the snow-clad pinnacles of the loftiest of the
Sierras.

590 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

CHAPTER XXXI.

Feeling of the Irish in America towards England — A Fatal
Mistake— Not Scamps and Rowdies— Who they really are —
Sympathy conquering Irritation — Indifference to Danger — Down
in the Mine— One of the Causes of Anti-English Feeling-
More of the Cause of Bad Feeling — What Grave and Quiet
Men think — If they only could ' see their way' — A Grievance re-
dressed is a Weapon broken — The Irish Element — Belief in Eng-
land's Decay — War with England — Why most Injurious to Eng-
land— Why less Injurious to America — The only Possible Remedy.

ris a matter of more importance to understand what is
the real feeling entertained by the Irish in America
towards England, or the British Government, than to
ascertain the nature or the details of any organisation to
which that feeling may give rise. If the feeling be ephe-
meral or factitious, the organisation, however formidable
its aspect, resembles a torrent caused by a summer storm,
or a tree with wide branches yet having no hold in the soil.
And, on the other hand, though an organisation may be
ill-designed or even ridiculous, or, on account of the folly,
or violence, or treachery, of those who are responsible for
its management, may come to a speedy dissolution, if it
have its origin in an earnest and enduring feeling, it is
significant of danger — it represents more than is seen ;
and die down as it may, it is sure to spring up again in
some new form. Here the abiding life is, as it were, in
the soil, whose vital energy throws these its creations to
the surface. The question, then, should rather be, what is
the feeling in which an organisation — Fenianism, or any
other 'ism' — has its origin, than what is the organisation
which springs from the feeling? With the special organi-
sation, much less with its details, I have no concern what-
ever; while with the feeling I cannot, in duty or in honesty,
refuse to deal.

A FATAL MISTAKE. 591

Of the leaders, the real or ostensible leaders of the
existing organisation various opinions are entertained and
freely expressed ; and far stronger language has been used
by different sections of the same nominal body with respect
to the merits or demerits of rival chiefs than has been
employed by the most indignant and out-spoken Crown
Prosecutor, or the most enthusiastic advocate of British
connection. It is only just, however, to state, that against
the. personal character, the honour and integrity, of the
present most prominent member* of the Fenian organisa-
tion I have never heard a word. Personal ambition, or
a desire for display, may have been urged against him by
those who did not agree with his policy, or were opposed
to the movement ; but no one, not even a partisan of a
rival leader, accuses him of dishonesty or of treachery.

There cannot be a more fatal mistake, whether fallen
into in England or in Ireland, than that which has its
origin in the desire to make light of the feeling existing
among the Irish in America — namely, of depreciating the
position, character, and motives of those who have either
joined or aided the present movement, or who sympathise
with its objects, whether special or general. It has been
frequently asserted that the Fenian organisation embraces
within its ranks none but the looser portion of the popu-
lation— in fact, ' the scum of the great cities,' and that it
depends altogether for its support on the contributions
extorted from day labourers and servant-girls. That the
organisation embraces many young men of loose habits or
irregular lives must of necessity be the case — it must be
so with every movement or organisation of a similar nature ;
yet, though such supporters of an organisation may not be
the steadiest supporters of the community, or the most
remarkable for self-restraint, they bring to it physical
force, courage, and a reckless desperation which, no obstacle
can daunt or deter. Men of this class, however, do not

* Mr. Roberta.

592 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

constitute its strength ; they certainly are not its guiding
spirits, nor do they form more than a section or per-
centage of the whole body — they are, in fact, but a mere
minority of the rank and file of American Fenianism.
That an individual who takes the lead in a certain locality
may be actuated by the lowest motives — vanity, self-
interest, or the desire of obtaining influence to be employed
for the furtherance of personal objects — is probably true,
and it would be strange if such were not the case ; but
the body, meaning thereby the thousands or the tens of
thousands who constitute the strength of the organisation,
even in the locality in which there may happen to be a
worthless leader, are neither 'roughs' nor 'rowdies,' nor
men of irregular or dissipated habits ; and the feeling by
which these men are animated is as pure as it is unselfish.
That what they propose to themselves as their immediate
or ultimate object may be as impracticable as mischievous
— that it would rather aggravate and intensify the evils
which they desire to remedy by sweeping revolution, — this
is not properly the question ; it is rather, what is their true
character ? — what is their real feeling ? Then, so far as I
have been able to learn, my belief is, that among the
Fenians in almost every State of the Union there are
many thousands of the very cream of the Irish population.
Indeed, in several places in which I have been I have
learned, on unquestionable authority — very frequently of
those who regarded Fenianism with positive dislike, and
its leaders with marked mistrust — that the most regular,
steady, and self-respecting of the Irish youth, or the
immediate descendants of Irish parents, constituted its
chief strength.

A few facts, given without method, will best illustrate
the real character of those who take part in this organi-
sation, and the feelings by which they are animated.

I happened to be in Buffalo in a few months after the
famous raid into Canada; and the impression produced by

NOT SCAMPS AND ROWDIES. 593

what I then learned was not weakened, but rather con-
firmed, by every day's additional experience in the United
States. I was then brought into contact with persons
holding the most opposite opinions as to the character of
this raid — those who condemned or those who applauded
it ; but from the very persons who denounced it, as wanton
and wicked, I received as strong testimony in favour of
the conduct of the Fenians who took part in it, or who had
come to take part in it, as from those who gloried in the
attempt, and deplored its failure. It is not necessary to
repeat the oft-told story of the Canadian raid, or the part
taken by the American Government, under the solemn
obligations of international law, to ensure its defeat. Not
calculating on the active interference of the authorities,
an immense body of Fenians, several thousands in number,
concentrated in Buffalo, with the intention of crossing
the frontier ; and though they were badly provided, if not
utterly unprovided, with commissariat, and though, not-
withstanding the generosity or the efforts of their friends,
they had to subsist on the simplest and even scantiest
fare ; and though hundreds of these young men were to be
seen lying on the side-walks, their only sleeping-places at
night (it was in the midst of the summer) — there was not
committed by any one of that vast body during the time,
fully a fortnight, that they remained in that large and popu-
lous city, a single offence against person, or property, or
decency, or public order ! This fact, so creditable to the
Irish character, was admitted, however reluctantly, by the
opponents of the Fenians, and was proudly proclaimed by
their sympathisers.

In this raid, or ready to take part in it, were men of
the best character and the steadiest conduct. Instances
were numerous of those who had abandoned well-paid
offices, lucrative situations, and valuable appointments —
who had given up happy homes and quiet enjoyments, to
risk liberty and life in this expedition. Fathers were not

594 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

restrained from joining in it by family obligations ; and
those who were beyond the period of active service rather
encouraged than checked the ardour of their sons. A
striking case in point came under my immediate observa-
tion. I visited, on invitation, the store of a respectable
man, whom I had known many years before in Ireland,
and whose feeling I knew had always been strongly
'national.' Speaking of the Canadian raid, in the pres-
ence of his wife and children and one or two friends, all
grouped round the stove at the far end of his place of
business, he pointed to a handsome fresh-coloured young
fellow of twenty, and said — 'That boy joined them over
the way, and with my full consent. His mother there was
in a terrible state about him, like all women, I suppose,
and, wanted not to let him go on any account ; but I said to
her, " if you do not let him go, I will take his place ; and if
I say I will go, no power on earth will stop me." It was
only then she consented — she will tell you so herself. He
did go, and he came back, safe too, to his mother and me,
thank G-od ! ' A deep, heart-felt ' Amen ! ' was the mother's
only response, as she caressed the soft cheek of her
youngest child, that, sitting at her feet, rested its head
against her knee.

I was passing through an hospital in Buffalo, which was
in the charge of a community of Irish Sisters, when the
gentleman by whom I was accompanied asked me if I
should like to see ' a live Fenian ? ' I replied that I had
seen more than one specimen of the genus Fenian before,
and that I had no special curiosity to see one on that occa-
sion. ' Ah,' said he, ' but he was one of the raiders into
Canada, and was severely wounded. This case may be in-
teresting to you for this reason — that it affords the best
reply to those who, in their eagerness to put down a so-
called secret organisation (and, God knows, it puzzles me
to discern where the secresy is), represent all who belong
to it as infidels and everything bad. This young man, who

WHO THEY REALLY ARE. 595

was wounded at Limestone Ridge, is, to my personal
knowledge, one of the best-conducted men in this city.
He was and is a monthly communicant, and, I can answer
for it, he is exemplary in every relation of life. He is,
besides, a man of superior intelligence. Now I am, if
anything, an anti-Fenian ; yet I tell you it is absurd to
suppose that the organisation is what it has been described
by your English newspaper correspondents.' The appear-
ance, manner, and bearing of the wounded man, who was
sitting on the side of his bed, and who laid down a prayer-
book as soon as he saw the visitor approaching, evidently
justified the description given of him by my companion.

A distinguished Irish clergyman of the Catholic diocese
of Cincinnati, who publicly and privately discouraged the
movement, remarked to me : — ' It is idle to say that this
feeling — call it infatuation if you like — has not a strong
hold on our Irish population, or that the organisation does
not embrace within it many men of the best character and
the purest motives. I have every day ample experience
of the fact that this is so. I will give you a case in point.
I was sitting at this desk one evening, busily writing, when
a visitor was announced. He was a penitent -of my own,
and I assure you I was very proud of him, for there could
not be a more respectable young man, or one who was in
every way better conducted. He was likewise singularly
thoughtful and intelligent, and held an excellent position.
" Father," he said, " I want you to do me a great favour."
I told him, what was quite true, that I should be happy to
do anything in my power to oblige or serve him. "Well,
Father," said he, " I want you to take charge of this little
parcel for me — it contains $600. I am going at once on a
very important journey, on which much depends. I am
not at present at liberty to say anything more, but you
shall soon know all about it ; but if you don't hear of me
in six months, send this money to my parents in Ireland,
with this letter." I received the money and the letter from

596 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

him, and promised strict compliance with his request. I
did not press him as to the nature of his journey, for he
was studiously reserved on that point ; and when he took
leave, it was with a display of emotion not very common
with him, for he was almost invariably cool and collected
in manner. In less than ten days after we parted at that
door, I was shocked to read in the morning paper the
account of his death, — he was one of the raiders, and he
was killed in the fight at Fort Erie.'

From the Southern States — Alabama, Louisiana, the
Carolinas, Florida, Texas — young men had come up to the
extreme North on this expedition ; and had it been even
momentarily successful, or had there been the least con-
nivance with the movement on the part of the Government
of the United States, — had, in fact, those who first crossed
the frontier but the opportunity of making a stand, and
holding their own even for a few days, vast numbers
would have flocked to the green standard from every
State in the Union. That Southern men, or Confederates,
should take any active part in the movement was extra-
ordinary, considering the feeling of exasperation that still
lingered in the Southern mind, the result of the late war.
This feeling was quite as strongly felt by Irishmen in the
Confederacy as by Americans ; and though there was, of
necessity, a sympathy between Irishmen at both sides of
the line, still, there was a lurking sentiment of irritation
not a little aggravated by the policy of the extreme Radical
party, as proclaimed through their press, and sought to be
enforced by legislation. An incident, which reached me
through more than one source, will indicate, better than any
description, the feeling of the Irish in the South as to the
part taken by their compatriots of the North in the war.

While the contending armies lay in front of each other
in the neighbourhood of Chattanooga, a flag of truce
brought together several distinguished officers on both
sides ; amongst them, General Cleburne and General

SYMPATHY CONQUERING IRRITATION. 597

Sweeney — the former fittingly representing the gallantry of
the Southern Irish, the latter as fittingly representing the
gallantry of the Northern Irish. Friendly greetings and
compliments were interchanged flasks were emptied, and
healths were drunk with great cordiality by those who in
a few hours after were to meet in deadly strife. On thai,
occasion General Sweeney, addressing himself to General
Cleburne, expressed his regret that his countrymen should
be found opposed to each other, and fighting on both sides
during the war ; but he hoped the time would come when
they would all be found united, and standing side by side
in the efibrt to recover the independence of their native
land. To this Cleburne replied, that to assist in destroying
the independence of one people was rather a poor prepa-
ration for the work of restoring the independence of
another.

This lingering feeling of irritation is, however, rapidly
passing away, owing in a great measure not only to the
generous bearing of the Federal Irish while as combatants
or conquerors in the South, but to the policy generally
held by the Irish in the Northern States as to the re-ad-
mission of the seceding States into the Union. But, were
that sentiment of irritation stronger than it is, it would
be absorbed by one far stronger and more intense — ' hatred
of the common enemy, love of the common country.' I
had rather a strange exhibition of the intensity of this feel-
ing in a city in Alabama.

From this city, in which there is a considerable Irish
population, there had gone forth, besides other Irish organ-
isations, several companies, all of which distinguished them-
selves by the most extraordinary daring and intrepidity.
In the very thickest of the deadliest struggle these men
fought with a desperation that elicited universal admi-
ration. One of these companies lost four out of every
five ; either they were killed on the field of battle, or they
died in the hospital of their wounds. Of 130 men who

698 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

from time to time joined that company, but 26 survived ;
and that gallant remnant of that heroic band limped back
to their homes, riddled with shot and shell, and hacked
by steel — cripples for life. Those who commanded these
heroic men were in every way worthy of those they com-
manded. Three times this company lost its captain in
front of the enemy; and the successor to their honours
and responsibilities — an Irishman from Waterford — the
fourth who led it into battle — bears on his person terrible
evidences of the work in which he had been engaged.
He called on me at my hotel ; and the conversation
turning on the late civil war, he informed me of many
interesting particulars with respect to the part taken in it
by Irishmen at both sides. I happened to express a hope
that his many wounds, of which I had heard so much from
others, did not cause him pain or inconvenience, and my
surprise that he survived such grievous injuries in vital
parts ; when, gather unexpectedly, he said, ' I would like
to show you my wounds, if you have no objection ; you can
then see what narrow escapes I had.' I replied that I
could have no objection whatever to behold the marks of
a brave man's valour ; on which, though not without some
difficulty, owing to the helpless condition of one arm, he
stripped to the waist. And, poor fellow, he had been
riddled and torn indeed. He had been shot through the
neck, the ball entering at one side, and going out at the
other. Within an inch or two of his spine was a great
mark where a rifle bullet had torn through ; that bullet,
turned by one of those strange eccentric motions which
bullets occasionally take, passed out through his side, and
shattered his arm. A third had more than grazed the
lower stomach — it had literally passed through, leaving its
mark of entrance and departure. Then there were scars
of minor importance, still eloquent mementos of fierce
fights in which he and his noble Irish ' Guard ' had taken
so conspicuous a part. One arm, as I ha.ve mentioned, hung

INDIFFERENCE TO DANGER. 599

helpless by his side ; but I well remember how his eyes
sparkled, and his face became suffused with enthusiasm,
as, suddenly flinging aloft his other arm, lean and sinewy,
he exclaimed in a voice of concentrated passion — * This is
the only arm I have lef t> and, so help me God ! I'd give it
and every drop of my heart's blood, if I could only strike
one blow for Ireland ! Fd be satisfied to die of my wounds
then, for I'd die happy in her cause,'

I have heard declarations as ardent from Irishmen in
other parts of the South — by men who had born* them-
selves bravely during the war ; and though many of them
declared their mistrust of certain of the -Fenian leaders, and
even a dislike to the movement itself, still all expressed
themselves in this fashion, * If I could see my way clearly —
if I could only trust the men in New York — if I thought I
could do Ireland any good, or give her a chance, I would
go in for it at every risk.' Others boasted that they were
members of the organisation — that they were ready, at any
moment, to unsheathe the sword again — that they did not
care who or what the leaders were ; they were for any
organisation that kept alive the national feeling, and pre-
pared Irishmen to avail themselves of the first opportunity
for a practical movement in her favour.

So startling and extraordinary were the events in which
these men — Northerns and Southerns — were actors, that
revolution had become a familiar idea to their minds ; and
such were the privations and hardships they had endured,
such the sacrifices they had made, such the dangers they
had gone through almost daily during a protracted war,
in sustainment of the cause to which they had been
devoted on either side, that the risk of life in the attain-
ment of a great object, or in furtherance of a cherished
purpose, is regarded by them as a light matter, ifj indeed, it
is regarded by them at all They have been too familiar
with Death — have looked the King of Terrors too many
times in the face — not to contemplate the possible loss of

600 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

life with the utmost indifference ; added to which, such is
the enthusiasm by which they are animated — an enthusiasm
at once fierce and exalted, springing from the two-fold
passion of love and hate, devotion and revenge — that it
renders the idea of the sacrifice of life elevating and en-
nobling rather than discouraging or repelling.

Down in the depths of a mine in Illinois, the workers
in which were Irish to a man, I found the same feeling of
passionate love, the same feeling of passionate hate. It
was a strange scene, and not without its attraction. In
one of the central passages of the mine, not more than five
feet in height, its prevailing murkiness pierced here and
there by the red light of a small lamp, was a truck, in
which were four men — two recumbent, as if on a couch ; the
other two sitting one on each side of that most uncomfort-
able carriage. The group consisted of the two visitors —
myself and a substantial friend, who did not much admire
the dark shadows, the low ceiling, and the strange sounds
of this underground world ; together with one of the
' bosses,' and a remarkably intelligent and younger man.
The miners had each their lamp fastened in front of their
caps, while the visitors held theirs in their hands. The gal-
loping mule had been arrested in his course by a stoppage
occasioned by something ahead; and for a considerable
time — it seemed an age to my stout friend by my side —
conversation was the only resource of the party of four.
In a company consisting of four Irishmen, it would be
strange if the conversation did not fall on Irish affairs,
especially at a timo when the State-trials in Canada were
then going on. My excellent friend, who shared with
me the couch of straw, though an ardent Irishman, thought
only of how soon he should get out of the mine, and up
into the bright world above ; and for the moment the Irish
Question lost all attraction for his ears. I must confess to
having taken the * legal and constitutional, side in the argu-
ment which sprang up ; but it found little favour either

DOWN IN THE MINE. 601

with the fiery younger man, or with the more sedate
' boss.' Only through courtesy, and that not a little
strained either, would they tolerate the mention of modera-
tion, or even admit that an Irishman could love his country
sincerely, and even ardently, and yet oppose those
who should seek to bring about changes by violence
and bloodshed. And as I reclined in my triumphal car, I
was harangued in fiery accents by the younger miner, on
' the wrongs of Ireland, and the iniquities of the British
Government.' He had the history of the Union and
the story of the Irish Kebellion by heart ; and as he re-
ferred to some thrilling event, or mentioned some famous
name, there was a deep murmur of satisfaction from the
' boss,' whose ' Thrue for you, boy ! ' seemed to impart an
additional swing to the oratory of his companion. They
would not believe in the naval or military power of Eng-
land— that, according to them, as to most others whom I
subsequently met, was a thing of the past. * And, after all,
what was it to the power of America ? — where were armies
like hers ? — where iron-dads, and monitors, and turret-
ships, such as she could turn out at a moment's notice,
as she did during the Rebellion ? No ; England was to
go down, and Ireland was, under Providence, to be the
instrument of her ruin.' Some of the miners had gone
before, and others would go again, when the occasion arose,
to strike a blow at ' the oppressor of their country ; ' and
there was scarcely a man in the mine who did not joyfully
subscribe to the .Fenian fund, and would not continue to do
so ; for though they might not succeed one time, they
would another. The ' boss' had not much to say, but that
was to the point. ' He didn't care about the money — he
could spare that ; but he'd give his life if necessary, and
gladly too, for the country that he was ever thinking of,
and that was dear to his heart.' And the ' boss ' looked
to be an earnest man, who said what he meant, and would
do what he said. The young man made a boast of a fact

II

602 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of which he might well be proud — that, although there
were between 200 and 300 Irishmen in the mine, there
were not six drunkards among the entire number. They
were hard-working, laborious, and zealous, proud of the
success of the mine, and not less so of their own well-
earned reputation for sobriety and honesty. True, these
were humble toilers ; but they were the very opposite of
the scamps and rowdies who are supposed to constitute the
strength of the anti-English organisation in America. Nor
had they the remotest intention or hope of ever deriving
any personal advantage from the sacrifices they made, or
were prepared to make, for ' the cause ; ' — love of their
native land, and they desire to see her ' happy and inde-
pendent ' were all-sufficient motives with them.

According to a system of logic, with the force and justice
of which they are thoroughly satisfied, certain classes of
the Irish in America — indeed, the majority of them — hold
the British Government responsible for all the evils of
Ireland ; and at the door of Government and Parliament
are also laid the responsibility of the wrongs done by
individuals with the sanction of the law, and the passive
assent of the legislature. After all, it is not to be wondered
at that Irishmen in America should adopt the logic of Eng-
lishmen in Parliament. If a people are discontented, the
fault must lie with those who govern them,' has been more
than once heard of late years in the British House of
Commons ; and though the axiom may have been applied
to a foreign people and a foreign government, an Irishman
might be excused for holding it of equal force when applied
nearer home. I can answer for it, that in this rough and
ready manner even the humblest men instinctively reason.
In fact, the logic is there ready for their use.

Visiting a farm-house in a Western State, I found the
owner, a man verging on sixty, in the midst of his family,
sons and daughters, fine specimens of the Irish race, with
the glow of health on their cheeks, and vigour and life in

ONE OF THE CAUSES OF ANTI-ENGLISH FEELING. 603

every movement. A quarter of a century before, the
owner of that house and farm was evicted under circum-
stances of singularly painful severity, — his cottage had
been assailed by the ' crowbar brigade,' and he and his wife
had barely time to snatch their children from the crash-
ing ruin of what had been their home ; and in his heart
he cherished a feeling of hatred and vengeance, not so
much against the individual by whom the wrong was
perpetrated, as against the Government by which it was
sanctioned, and under whose authority it was inflicted.
He had not the least objection to tell of his difficulties in
the new country, for he had every reason to be proud of
his sturdy energy, and his hard struggles for the first few
years; but, whatever the subject of which he spoke, he
would invariably contrive to wander back to the memorable
day of his eviction, when, as he said, 'he and his were
turned out like dogs — worse than dogs — on the road-side.'
' See, sir ! he exclaimed, ' I tell you what it is, and you
may believe me when I say it, though I love the old
country — and God knows I do that same — I would not
take a present of 200 acres of the finest land in my own
county, and have to live under the British Government.'
' Not if the British Government had anything to do with
it, I suppose,' said the wife, as if explaining her husband's
assertion, which she seemed to regard as reasonable and
natural. ' I'll never forgive that Government the longest
day I live.' ' Why then, indeed, Daniel, it's time to for-
give them and everybody now,' put in the wife, ' for sure,
if that same didn't happen, you would not be here this
blessed day, with your 400 acres of fine land, and plenty
for all of us, and the schooling for the children, and no
one to say " boo " to us, and all our own ! May the Lord
make us thankful for his mercies 1' 'Well, Mary, no
thanks to the British Government for that, — 'twasn't
for my good the blackguards done it — and if you and the
children didn't perish that day, 'twas the Lord's will, not

604 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

theirs.' ' Why then, Daniel, I can't say again that ' — and
the wife gave in. The sons, one of whom had fought for
the Union, sympathised more with the vengeful feeling of
their father than with the Christian spirit of their mother.

A similar instance of this holding the British Govern-
ment responsible for an act of individual cruelty was
related to me by an eminent Irish ecclesiastic in one of
the Eastern States. In the course of his periodical visi-
tation he became acquainted with a respectable and
thriving Irish farmer, who appeared to be in great comfort,
his land in fine condition, and his stock of cattle of a good
description and abundant. This man was always glad to
see the priest coming round, and thought 'he could never
make enough of him/ A widower with several children,
his house was managed by his wife's sister, who had
altogether devoted herself to their welfare. He was a man
of abstemious habits, regular life, and inclined to reserve,
as if, as the clergyman said, there was some hind of cloud
always over his mind. Nothing could exceed his care in
the religious training of his young people, in which task he
was well seconded by their excellent aunt. But there was
this singularity about him, — that, whatever his desire to
have his family grow up in the practice of their faith, he
never would go to confession. The priest, as was his duty,
spoke to him more than once on the subject ; but he was
answered evasively, and put off on one plea or another.
At length, determined to push the matter home, he said
to him — 'Now I must speak to you seriously, and you
must listen to me as your pastor, who is answerable before
God for the welfare of his flock. Your children are now
growing up about you, and they will be men and women
in a short time, and you should show them an example in
your own person of a Catholic father. You are aware how
important it is that they should be strong in their faith
before they become men and women, and go into the
world, where they will no longer be subject to your

MORE OF THE CAUSES OF BAD FEELING. 606

control, or that of their good pious aunt ; but if you don't
yourself set them the example, how can you expect they
will always continue as they now are — devoted to their
religion ? Tell me, then, why won't you go to your duty
here — where God has prospered your industry — as you
did in the old country in former times?' 'Well, Father/
he replied, ' I tell you what it is — I can't go ; that's the
truth of it, and for a good reason too. I know my religion
well enough to tell me I must forgive my enemies, or I
can't get absolution — that I know sure enough, for my
mother wasn't without telling me as much, and I never
forgot it, and 'tis always before me, sleeping and waking.
Then, as you must know the truth of it — and 'tis the blessed
truth I'm telling you — I can't and I won't forgive them —
I never can, and what's more, I never will, to my dying day.
Father, that's just the whole of it.' 'Nonsense, man,' said
the priest, ' that's not the language of a Christian^-an infi-
del might speak to me in that manner. Why, the Redeem-
er, who saved you and yours by His blood, forgave His ene-
mies— and you, a Christian man ! brought up in a Catholic
country, to talk of not* forgiving your enemies ! ' ' True
for you, Father — all true — true as the Gospel — I know it ;
but still there's something in me that I can't get over.
I told your reverence I was turned out of my land, where
my father and his people before him lived, I don't know
how long. Well, sure enough, that same has been many
a better rcan's case, and more's the pity. But that wasn't
it, but the way 'twas done. There didn't come out of the
heavens a bitterer morning when the sheriff was at my
door with the crowbar men, and a power of peelers, and
the army too, as if 'twas going to war they were, instead
of coming to drive an honest man and his family from
house and home. My poor ould father was at his last
with rheumatics, and the doctor said 'twas coming to his
heart — and my wife too, saving your reverence's presence,
was big with child. 'Twas a bad time, God knows, for us

606 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

to be put out. I asked the agent, who was there, for a
week, to see and get a place ; but I couldn't get a day —
no, not an hour ; he said the law should take its coorse,
and it did take its coorse, and a bad wicked coorse it was.
My mother — she did it, Father, before I could stop her —
knelt down to him in her grey hairs ; but 'twas no good —
you might as well talk to that stone there. I told them
the state of my poor ould father — that was no use either ;
out we should go into the bitter could, and not as much as
a place to put our heads ! There were others as bad as
ourselves, for the whole townland was ' under notice.'
I can't tell you all that happened that morning, or that
night — I was like a man out of his rayson, that didn't
know what he was about, or what was happening to him.
But this I know well enough — that my ould father was
taken out on the bed he lay on, and he died that night in
the gripe of the ditch, under the shelter we made for him
with a few bits of boords and sticks and a quilt ; and my
wife — God rest her blessed sowl this day ! — was brought
to bed — what a bed it was ! — of the youngest child — she
you heard just now in her catechism ; and my poor wife —
my poor girl, Father, died in my arms the next day ! *
Here the strong man, with a fierce gesture, dashed the
tears from his eyes. ' Well, Father, I went down on my
knees, and, the Lord pardon me ! I swore I'd never forgive
that night and day, and the men that done that wrong —
and I never will — and I'll never forgive the bloody English
Government that allowed a man to be treated worse than
I'd treat a dog, let lone a Christian, and sent their peelers
and their army to help them to do it to me and others.
No, Father, 'tis no use your talking to me, I can't forgive
them ; and what's more, I teach my children to hate them
too. It would be like turning false to her that's in the
grave — the mother of my children — if I ever forgave that
bitter day and bitter night.' Again and again, for years,
the zealous priest never ceased to urge on that dark spirit

WHAT GRAVE AND QUIET MEN THINK. 607

the necessity of imitating the Divine example ; and it was
not until the illness of the daughter whose birthplace was
the ditch-side in the bleak winter, softened the father's
heart, that he bowed his head in humility, or that the
word 'forgiveness' passed his lips. But forgiveness did
not necessitate love ; and though he had never taken
an active part in any organisation, yet whatever was osten-
sibly adverse to the British Government had his sym-
pathy, and that of his children.

I do not care to speculate as to the number of the class
of evicted tenants scattered through the United States,
whether, like the men just mentioned, prosperous posses-
sors of land, or adding unduly to the population of some of
the great towns ; but wherever they exist, there are to be
found willing contributors to Fenian funds, and enthusi-
astic supporters of anti-British organisations.

Then there are the descendants of ' the men of '98,' to
whom their fathers left a legacy of hate. Americans these
may be, and proud of their birth-right ; yet they cherish
an affection for the land of their fathers, and a deep-
seated hostility to the country which they were taught to
regard as its oppressor. From the date of the Irish
rebellion to the present hour every successive agitation
or disturbance has driven its promoters, its sympathisers,
or its victims, across the ocean ; and thus, from year to
year, from generation to generation, has an anti-English
feeling been constantly quickened into active life, and been
widely diffused throughout America; until now, not only
does it permeate the whole Irish mass, but it is cherished
as fondly and fiercely in the log cabin of the prairie or
the forest as it is in the midst of the bustle and movement
of the city.

I have met in many parts of the Union grave, quiet
men of business, Irishmen who, though holding their
opinions with the resolute firmness common to their
temperament and tone of thought, rarely take part in

608 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

public matters, and yet are interested in what is passing
around them, especially in whatever concerns the honour
of their race and country. From men of this class I
heard the most strongly expressed opposition to the
Fenian movement, and occasionally the bitterest contempt
of its leaders. Jealous of the reputation of their country-
men, and, like all men of high spirit, peculiarly sensitive
to ridicule, they were ashamed of the miserable squabbles
and dissensions so common among the various branches or
sections into which the Irish organisation is, or was then,
divided, and they experienced the keenest humiliation as
some new disaster rendered the previous boasting more
glaring, or more painfully absurd. Yet amongst these
grave, quiet men of business — these men of model lives —
these men in whose personal integrity any bank in the
country would place unlimited trust ; amongst these men,
England has enemies, not friends. They are opposed to
Fenianism, not because it menaces England but because it
compromises Ireland. So much alike do these men think
and express themselves, though perhaps a thousand miles
apart, that one would be inclined to suppose them in con-
stant communication and intercourse with each other. Not
to say in substance, but almost literally, this is the manner
in which I have heard a number of these grave, quiet,
steady business men refer to the Fenian movement : ' I
'strongly object to this Fenian organisation, for many
'reasons. In the first place, it keeps up a distinct na-
'tionality in the midst of the American population, and
1 it is our interest to be merged in this nation as quickly
'as may be. In the second place, I have no confidence
1 in the men at its head ; how can I ? Which of them am
' I to believe ? If I believe one, I can't the other. Then
' what they propose is absurd. They talk nonsense about
'going to war with England, and England at peace with
'the world; and every additional disaster only rivets
1 Ireland's chains more strongly. If, indeed, this country

IF THEY ONLY COULD 'SEE THEIR WAY.' 609

' were at war with England, that would be quite another
' thing ; and, after all, of what good would that be for
' Ireland ? — would it better her condition ? — would it be
' worth the risk ? At any rate, until such an emergency
' should arise, it is a vexatious thing to see the hard-earned
'money of our people going to keep up a mischievous
' delusion. But at the same time, I must say this for my-
' self, if I could see my wa}7 clearly — if I thought that a fair
' chance offered of serving Ireland, and making her happy,
' I would willingly sacrifice half what I have in the world in
' the attempt. The opportunity may come, in God's good
' time ; but it has not come yet, and even if it did, the
' men at the head are not the men to do the work.'

There are others — and they are to be met with in every
State of the Union — who are of the O'Connell school ; in
fact, they are as much of the 'moral force' and 'not a
single drop of blood ' policy now, as if they were still
subscribers to Conciliation Hall, wore the Repeal button,
and exhibited a card of membership over the mantle-shelf.
They prefer the open ways of the constitution to secret
oaths and midnight drillings ; and when they read in the
Irish news the miserable record of a new failure, they ex-
claim— ' Oh, if these people would only follow O'ConnelTs
advice ! He carried Emancipation without the loss of a life,
or the spilling of a drop of blood.' And yet these 'moral-
force ' men are not to be implicitly trusted for consistency :
if they, too, ' saw their way,' and matters really came to a
crisis, they might be found contributing their $10,000, or
their $20,000, or their $50,000 to send a ship to sea with
the green flag flying at her peak.

If it be asked, is this anti-British feeling likely to die
out ? Considering that it has so long existed, and that it
is more intense, as well as more active at this day than at
any time during the last quarter of a century, it is rather
difficult to suppose it would, or will. Emigration is adding
yearly, monthly, weekly to its strength. Few who land

610 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

at Castle Garden that are not prepared by previous sym-
pathy to join or to support whatever anti-British organi-
sation may exist ; nor are they long in America before
they catch the strong contagion of its bitter hostility —
assuming they have not already felt it at home. Every
batch of 500 or 1,000, every new 50,000, or 100,000, ^rhile
adding to the Irish population — the Irish Nation — at the
American side of the Atlantic, strengthens the Irish ele-
ment, and deepens and intensifies the anti-English feeling.
It may subside — so may the sea ; but, like the sea, the
first breath will set it again in motion, while a storm would
lash it into fury. Thus it is with that vast, deep-lying,
all-pervading sentiment which exists in the Irish heart —
which is cherished as something holy (and in its unselfish
aspirations there is nothing mean or ignoble) — which is
fed by tradition, nourished by history, kept alive by in-
stances of legal wrong or sanctioned oppression, stimulated
by the musical rhythm and stirring verse of the ballad,
roused into a blaze by appeals that flush the cheek and
kindle the fire of the eye. It may subside ; but it is
difficult to think how, without some counteracting cause,
it can die out.

The thorough-going Fenians — whether leaders, orators,
or rank and file — would, if anything, prefer that the
admitted cause of Irish discontent should not be removed ;
for they naturally argue — 'If our hopes of regenerating
Ireland be based upon revolution, it is better for our
purpose that the various causes and sources of discontent
and disaffection should be allowed to exist, and by their
prolonged existence irritate and gall the public mind more
and more, and thus keep the people in a condition most
favourable to revolutionary teaching. Let the sources of
discontent be dried up, the causes of anger and irrita-
tion be removed, and what can be hoped for then ? ' If
half a dozen new grievances could be improvised to-mor-
row, their announcement would be hailed with gladness by

A GRIEVANCE REDRESSED IS A WEAPON BROKEN. 611

those who desire to keep alive the Fenian organisation,
and impart a more vengeful spirit to the feeling against
England. A grievance redressed is a weapon broken. I
remember the look of genuine annoyance with which a
high-pressure Fenian, who introduced himself to me in a
Northern State, received information on a subject having
reference to Irish trade and manufactures. He desired to
learn — for an oration, as I afterwards understood, — what
were the special restrictions which the jealousy of England
still imposed on the industry and trade of Ireland. He
was filled with the memory of the 'discouragement' of the
Irish woollens by the same WILLIAM respecting whose
memory so much nonsense is uttered on certain anniver-
saries ; and he glowed as he thought of the indignant
oratory of the Irish House of Commons. But he knew
little — indeed, he did not desire to know it — of the actual
state of things at the present hour ; and when I assured
him that, so far as the law stood, the merchants, manu-
facturers, and business men of Ireland were on a complete
equality with their brethren in England, he could scarcely
bring himself to believe what I said. He was literally
disgusted. If he could only have told his eager audience
that, at the moment he stood on that platform, Queen
Victoria was imitating fce example of ' the glorious, pious,
and immortal William of Orange/ and ' discouraging ' the
linen trade of Ireland, as her predecessor had discouraged
the woollen trade, what a stroke for the orator ! And if he
could have added, that the burning words of Grattan had
been in vain, and the labelled canon of College Green
without thfeir significance, and that the jealousy of the
Saxon monopolists was as strong in the Senate of England
that day as when a monarch basely listened to the selfish
churls who were afraid of Irish competition, he would have
convinced his audience that revolution was the only remedy
for such oppression. He cherished the belief, that the
injustice had only grown more venerable ; and I almost

612 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

sympathised with his distress as I rudely demolished the
raw material of his glowing eloquence. Would to Heaven
that apathy and folly, timidity and prejudice, had not left
so many real grievances still unredressed !

The powerful Public Press of America is favourable, on
the whole, to what may be termed 'the Irish cause,' as
distinct from any special organisation or movement in ita
ostensible interest. There are very few journals in the
United States that do not either broadly assert or unre-
servedly admit that Ireland is badly governed — that she is
the Poland of England. Some journals vehemently oppose
the Fenian movement, and denounce its leaders and^ their
objects in the most unmeasured terms ; but the same
journals treat the Irish question with sympathy and re-
spect. The fact is, there are not many journals in the
United States which are not, to a certain extent, under the
control or influence of Irishmen, or the sons of Irishmen.
They are edited, or part edited, or sub-edited, or reported
for, by men of Irish birth or blood ; and with the birth and
the blood come sympathies for the old country, and an un-
friendly feeling towards ' her hereditary oppressor.' Then
there are papers exclusively Irish in their character, such as
the Boston Pilot, which I heard described as the Vade Mecum
of the Irish emigrant — the Irish American, or the Monitor,
a well-written paper in San Francisco ; and now John
Mitchell is bringing the influence of thorough sincerity,
the weight of personal sacrifice, and perhaps one of the
ablest pens in America to the anti-British cause : then
there are, in almost every direction, journals of various
shades of opinion as to policy, but in feeling and principle
thoroughly Irish. So that, although there may be decided
difference of opinion as to the mode, or the means, or the
opportunity of serving Ireland, and a still more strongly
marked difference of opinion as to a special organisation,
and more so as to its leaders, there is scarcely any difference
of opinion as to the existence of Irish wrong, and the

THE IRISH ELEMENT. 613

justice of the Irish cause. Thus the Public Opinion of the
country affords its sanction to the convictions of the Irish
in America, and a moral if not an active support to efforts
unfriendly and even hostile to England.

The events of the late war have not added, either in
the North or in the South, to partisans of England, or to
her defenders in the Press. The North blames her for
having gone too far in recognition of the South — the South
is indignant with her for not having gone farther; and
that terrible 'Alabama' has caused many a man in the
North to grind his teeth with rage, and fiercely pray for the
opportunity of retaliation. So, altogether independent of
whatever sympathy there maybe amongst the 'full-blooded'
Americans of the Northern States in favour of the Irish
cause, the support or sanction, whatever it may be, which
the Fenian movement receives from those unconnected with
Ireland by birth or blood, is in no small degree the result of
the depredations of that famous cruiser. It may be also
remarked, that the Irish at both sides of the line won the
respect and earned the gratitude of every generous-minded
man of Federacy or Confederacy by their dauntless valour
and unlimited self-devotion. The Irish have purchased
by their blood a claim to the attention of America; and
America listens with sympathy to the pleadings of her
adopted children, who have made her interests, her honour,
and her glory, theirs.

The Irish element being constantly on the increase, it
must, as a matter of inevitable necessity, become more
influential, more powerful, more to be conciliated and
consulted — to be used, or to be abused; and it need
scarcely be said, for it is patent and notorious, that there
are those who will use and who will abuse it. There is
no country in the world in which elections are so frequent
as the United States; and the humblest citizen being in
possession of the franchise, there are thus afforded almost
innumerable opportunities of appealing to the prejudices

614 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

or pandering to the passions of those in whom is reposed
the sovereign power of election, even of raising the suc-
cessful soldier or the ambitious statesman — nay, the rail-
splitter or the journeyman tailor — to the loftiest dignity
within the limits of the constitution. Thus we hear of
Senators, and members of Congress, and Secretaries of
State, and candidates for the Presidency, or even holders
of that office, delivering addresses, proposing resolutions,
or expressing sentiments favourable to Irish nationality,
and tinged with a more or less decided anti-British spirit.
Those who thus speak or act may be honest in intention,
may really desire to assist Ireland, may believe in the
justice of her cause and in the probability of her success ;
or they may not care a rush about the country of which
they so eloquently declaim, and may regard the whole
thing as so much moonshine, only useful for the purposes
of political capital; but that the speeches are delivered,
the resolutions proposed, and the sentiments expressed, is
known to the world. It may become a question — to what
lengths will these declarations go? — to what point will
these professions of sympathy reach ? — how far will these
enthusiastic friends of Ireland advance? — or at what line
will they halt? Whether they advance, or whether they
stop short, the mischief is done in either case — the weight
of their name and influence is given in sanction of
a sentiment which, so far as the Irish are regarded, is
honestly and sincerely entertained. The occasion may
arise, sooner or later, when difficulties would spring up
between the two great nations at either side of the Atlantic,
and these occasions may sorely perplex the men who thus
deliberately play with fire ; but if. they do arise, one thing
at least is certain, — the Irish vote will not be cast into the
balance on the side of peace. In whatever party England
may possibly find a friend, or a peace-maker, it will not
be among those who long impatiently for the chance of
another Fontenoy.

'BELIEF IN ENGLAND'S DECAY. 615

A strange notion — indeed, downright delusion — exists
in the Irish- American mind as to the power of England.
One would suppose, from listening to one of her contem-
ners, that England's day was gone — that she was worn
out and effete, that the British Lion was fangless", as
harmless as a performing poodle, as innocuous as a stuffed
specimen in a travelling show. You may tell the scoffer,
of her revenue of more than $350,000,000 in gold, and how
her people every year ungrudgingly expend $130,000,000
in gold on her army and her fleet; but you are pooh-
poohed, and answered, that her day is past, and that she
will go to pieces at the first shock. 'Her 100,000, or
150,000 soldiers, scattered over the world ; what are they ?
We had more than a million in arms at the close of the
war, besides what the South had. What is she, then, to
this great country ? We ' — the speaker is an Irishman of less
than thirty years' standing — ' we whipped her in 1776, and
we whipped her in 1812, and we'd whip her again ; and
I wish to God we had the chance to-day before to-morrow
—that's all.'

The same belief in the power of America and the decay
of England is as strongly entertained by the civilian as
by the soldier, by the female contributor to the funds of
the local ' circle/ as by the most enthusiastic of its mem-
bers.

The announcements made through the cable, of the
abortive risings in February and March of this year,
thrilled the Fenian heart with more of hope than anxiety;
they were read through rose-tinted glasses, and translated
through the imagination. Not until the very last moment
would the admission be made that the whole thing was an
utter failure ; and even then, there were many who would
not, or who could not, regard it as a delusion. I have
before me at this moment the calm steady gaze, replete
with confidence and enthusiasm, of the Irishman who
supplied me with the morning papers, as his first words

616 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

of salutation were — 'Glorious news to-day, sir! The
country is up ! ' I asked, ' What news ? what country ? '
' Ireland, to be sure. She's up, sir, thank God ! ' When
I read the telegram, I instinctively exclaimed — 'Sad
news, indeed — miserable, miserable news.' 'You call it
sad and miserable ! — I call it glorious.' I told him he
would not call it glorious, if he knew the state of things as
well as I did ; but he regarded me with a look of respect-
ful disdain. He would believe nothing against his hopes.
And when, at last, facts were too powerful, even for his
seven-fold credulity, he was still unconvinced. It was a
mischance, a momentary check, even a blunder ; but it
would be all right soon ; the next time the thing would
be done better. And he was only a type of a class — who
give, and give largely, of their hard earnings, to sustain
a cause on which they have set their hearts — a class whom
no reverse can discourage, no disaster dismay, no treachery
alienate or disgust. This" faith is the strength of the
organisation — this generous self-sacrifice its unfailing
resource. It is idle to say the money is ' extorted/ — it is
freely and gladly given, with the conviction of its being a
holy tribute, offered on the altar of country. The working
man takes it perhaps more often from his family than
from his pleasures ; but he still gives it as a duty as well
as a gratification. The female ' help ' will deliberately lay
down her half-dollar a month, or whole dollar a month, as
her fixed contribution to the Fenian funds ; and should
some sudden emergency arise — some occasion for still
greater sacrifice — she will pour her hoarded dollars into
her country's exchequer, reserving, it may be, only so much
as she intends to send to her parents at home. There is
a kind of desperate hopefulness in their faith ; ' It may
not be this time — perhaps not ; but something will be sure
to turn up, and that will give us the opportunity we want.'
The something that is sure to turn up is, of course, a war
with England — an event which would be hailed with a

WAR WITH ENGLAND. 617

shout of delight by the Irish in America. Imagination
could not conceive the rapture, the frenzy, with which,
from every side, the Irish would rush to that war. From
the remotest State, from the shores of the Pacific, from
the Southernmost limits of Florida, from the heart of the
country, from the Far West, from the clearing of the forest,
from the home on the prairie — from the mine, the factory,
the work-shop — from the river, and from the sea — they
would flock to the upraised banners, equally loved and
equally sacred — the green flag of Erin, and the Stars and
Stripes of the Great Republic. As it were with a bound,
and a shriek of exultation, the Irish would rush to meet
their enemy — to fight out, on land and ocean, the feud that
has survived through centuries — to revenge, if so they could
the wrongs inflicted by monarchs and soldiers and states-
men, by confiscations and by massacres, by penal laws
and evil policy. Nay, I solemnly believe they would not
desire a greater boon of America than that the fighting
should be left entirely to themselves ; and never did mar-
tyrs more joyfully approach the stake, in which they beheld
the gate of Paradise, than would these Irish exiles and
their descendants march to battle in a cause that gratified
the twin passions of their souls — love and hate. And
were the American Government so forgetful of international
obligation as to close their eyes to what might be going
on, and allow a fortnight, or a month, to pass without
any active interference ; and were their unwillingness to
act a matter thoroughly understood, — in such a case, the
frontiers of Canada would be passed with a rush — and,
then! — why, God knows what then. A' rupture with
England — to cease when? Is it after a long and terrible
or sharp and wicked contest, which would end with the
realisation of the American idea of the natural boundaries
of the United States at the other side of the St. Lawrence
and the Lakes, and from Labrador to the Pacific? The
future is in the hands of Providence.

618 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Deplorable, indeed, would a deadly struggle be between
the two great nations, speaking the same language, in-
heritors of a common literature, linked together by ties of
interest as of blood — deplorable to the dearest interests of
humanity and civilisation that such a conflict should occur ;
that the commerce of each country should be crippled on
the high s"eas, that the seaboard of both should be circled
with fire and sword — perhaps still more deplorable to the
country which inspires such passionate attachment, and is
the cause of such determined hate. Each could and
would inflict unspeakable injury on the other ; but were a
balance of probable evil to be struck, it would be, manifestly
must be, on the side of England. This may excite the
incredulity or the indignation of the English reader ; but
there are geographical reasons why it should be so. As*-
suming the over-sanguine view of the case, and supposing
that the title ' United Kingdom ' fittingly represented the
relations which, in case of war with America, would
exist between Great Britain and Ireland, what, after all,
is this United Kingdom? A cluster of islands, inhabited,
no doubt, by a brave, hardy, high-spirited, energetic,
adventurous people, whose greatness rests mainly on their
industry, their enterprise, and their skill in the arts of
peace, — but not so large in extent as an average State
of the Union, which is now typified by the six-and-thirty
stars on the banner of the Bepublic. These islands are
densely populated; but it may be questioned if the same
population, which is a source of wealth in peace, when
k producing at profit for the consumption of the world,
would be equally a source of wealth in the time of war,
when hostile cruisers infested the seas, and made the
path of commerce one of multiplied risk. England cannot
feed herself, though her fields are fruitful, and she carries
the science of agriculture to a more successful application
than any country of Europe : she must depend on foreign
sources for her supplies — at least, to supplement her own

WHY MOST INJURIOUS TO ENGLAND. 619

production. Check and embarrass, not to say cut off, her
necessary supply from other countries, and up goes the
price of the poor man's loaf to a famine standard ! Even
high wages would scarcely meet the enhanced price of
human food consequent upon a conflict with a maritime
nation. But where would the high wages come from, and
by whom would they be received? Free and unfettered
commerce, which means a safe and unrestricted highway,
by land or by sea, is the very life of trade ; but only
render it necessary for the timid merchantman to cluster
round the armed vessel, and seek the protection of her
guns, and adieu to free and unfettered commerce, for a safe
and uninterrupted highway no longer exists. Why pro-
duce calicoes, and linens, and woollens, and laces, and
silks, and hardware, if you cannot depend on their reach-
ing your customers in safety? — and if production ceases
to be profitable, what is to become of the tens of thou-
sands, the myriads, who now labour in cheerfulness, be-
cause their country enjoys the priceless blessings of peace ?
The population of Lancashire may have had some idea — a
faint idea at best — of the horrors of a universal paralysis
of trade ; a faint idea, because the country, being generally
prosperous, notwithstanding the Cotton Famine caused by
the Civil War in America, was able to come, and did
promptly come, to their rescue. But were English custom-
ers to be reached only by blockade-runners, or by the avoid-
ance of hostile cruisers and daring privateers, or under the
protection of irou-clads and monitors, then would bitter
poverty and hard privation be brought to the homes of
the very workers who, being fully employed in 1862 and
1863, were able to extend the hand of fraternal assistance
to the 500,000 sufferers from the failure of a single branch
of our multiform national industry. Dear food, and scant
wages! — humanly speaking, the most terrible calamities
that can befall the working-man, his family, and his
home. Those who forged cannon, manufactured rifles,

620 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

and supplied munitions of war, would flourish ; but, with
war taxation, and war prices, and war food, and war panic,
of what value would be our public securities? Then,
suppose the war at an end, providentially in a year,
probably in two, how many hundred millions would it
have added to the National Debt, which now devours more
than one-third of the entire revenue of the State ?

And what Irishman can think, than without a shudder
of horror, of what his country would have to go through
during that tremendous crisis! The pent-up passions of
centuries let loose in one wild frenzied outburst — ven-
geance, long brooded over, stimulated rather than quenched
in blood — the hills, and plains, and valleys of that hapless
land the theatre of a desperate war, the battle-field not
alone of contending armies, but of conflicting races! It
requires the insensibility of the Stoic to contemplate the
multiplied and complicated horrors which a war with
America would entail on Ireland. Turning our eyes from
the awful spectacle which the imagination too readily
conjures up, let us rather glance across the ocean, and
see why the balance would, of necessity, be in favour of
the Great Republic.

An enemy might cripple the commerce of the United
States, might possibly be able to blockade a few. of her
harbours, might probably succeed in burning a dockyard,
or setting a portion of a maritime city in a blaze ; though
the bombardment of Charleston does not offer a very hope-
ful precedent to a foreign foe. But what impression could
any English army — any possible army that England, not
to say could spare, but could raise — make upon the United
States ? CURRAN'S image of the child vainly trying to
grasp the globe with its tiny hand, affords a not inapt idea
of the practical absurdity of an armed invasion of the
gigantic territory of the Union by even the mightiest of
the military powers of Europe ; and England is not that.
No foreign nation could reach the heart of America. The

WHY LESS INJURIOUS TO AMERICA. 621

heart of America exists in her natural resources, in her
power to feed herself — to sustain her people without the
aid of foreign assistance ; and her plains, rich with golden
grain, lie far away from the reach of charging squadrons
and the sound of hostile cannon. War with a European
Power would serve rather than injure the manufacturing
industry of the United States, employ rather than dis-
employ her people. Perhaps the evil is, that America
continues, even yet, to be too much dependent on the
manufacturing industry of Europe for articles of con-
venience and utility, as well as luxury ; and whatever
would throw her more on her own resources, natural and
created, would, in the long run, be for her benefit. With
her mountains of iron, and her enormous regions of coal,
with her varied climate, and her infinite natural produc-
tions, and the skill, ingenuity, knowledge, and inventive
power of a population trained in all the arts of civilisation,
and ministering to her wants — she can indeed contemplate
without dismay the chances of a war waged against her by
any foreign nation, however great, mighty, or formidable
that nation may be. Nor would a foreign war, great
calamity as, under the most favourable circumstances, it
would be, be altogether unpopular with numbers of the
American people, including even the patriotic and the
thoughtful ; inasmuch as it would most effectually solve
the Southern difficulty, settle in a moment the question
of reconstruction on the broad basis of mutual amity and
reconciliation, and unite under the one banner those who
for four long years waged a bitter and relentless war, man
against man, and State against State. He must form a
strange notion of the relative condition of the two coun-
tries, who does not see that, however disastrously Ireland
might and would be affected by a war between America and
England, the chances would be against England and in
favour of America — or, in other words, that England would
suffer more and America less from such a contingency.

622 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

Assuming, then, that the feeling of the Irish in America
against England may possibly or probably, sooner or later,
lead to an embroilment, a rupture, war — how is England
to reach, influence, or counteract these her eager, watch-
ful, vengeful enemies ? But through one channel — Ireland.
The Irish in America are entirely beyond the reach of
England ; she can in no possible way control or check the
manifestation of their feelings towards her. Nor indeed
is it within the power of the Government of the United
States to do so, even were it so inclined — which is more
than doubtful. By laws and police — physical power, if
you will — you may suppress a visible and tangible organ-
isation ; but neither by penalty nor punishment, prose-
cution nor persecution, can you reach a sentiment. It is
impervious to lead or steel, and bonds cannot bind it. You
must encounter it with a power similar to its own, equally
strong, and equally unassailable by mere material force.
And the profound belief, which lies at the very root of this
hostility, and gives life to every anti-British organisation —
that Ireland is oppressed and impoverished by England ;
that England hates the Irish race, and would exterminate
them, were it in her power, — this profound belief can only
be conquered by the conviction of the justice and wisdom
of England, as exhibited not only in her government and
in her legislation, but in the prosperity and contentment
of Ireland. Let Ireland be dealt with in the same spirit,
liberal and confiding, with which England has dealt
with her colonies — respecting the rights of conscience
through the most complete religious equality, and the
utmost freedom of education. Let her legislate for a
country almost wholly agricultural, and which, from many
causes, natural as well as the growth of circumstances,
stands in relation to other portions of the United Kingdom
in an entirely exceptional position, in somewhat the same
spirit which has characterised her policy in reference to the
tenure of land in Lower Canada, where she sanctioned

THE ONLY POSSIBLE REMEDY. 623

the abolition of the Seignorial Rights ; in Prince Edward's
Island, where, while suppressing an illegal association, the
representative of the British Crown proclaimed the wisdom
of converting tenure by lease into tenure by freehold, and
the determination of the local government to effect that
change by the purchase of large estates, principally
belonging to absentees, and selling them at low terms to
existing occupiers and new settlers ; or in India, by afford-
ing security of tenure — that most potent of all incentives
to human industry — to a race who had previously been
trampled upon and oppressed. Let a generous, kindly, and
sympathetic spirit breathe in the language of her statesmen
and her orators, and mark the writings of her journalists.
Let there be an end, not to say of abuse or denunciation,
but of that tone of offensive superiority and still
more offensive toleration and condescension which too
often characterises British references to Ireland and
things Irish. Let it be the honest, earnest desire of the
English people to lift Ireland up to their own level of
prosperity and contentment ; and obliterate, by generous
consideration for the wants of her people, the bitter
memories and lurking hate which the wrongs of centuries
have left in the Irish heart, and which the apathy or
neglect of recent times has taken little trouble to recog-
nise. Let statesmen and party-leaders regard this ever
present and still unsettled ' Irish Question ' as one of the
gravest and most solemn that could engage the attention
and employ the energies of a wise and patriotic Govern-
ment and Parliament. To a grander task or a more
exalted duty than the solution of this difficulty — the re-
moval of that great scandal which the state of Ireland,
political and material, presents to the civilised world —
neither minister nor representative could devote his brain
and heart. And to a New Parliament, yet to spring, as it
were, from the generous impulses of an enfranchised nation,
may we hope for an energy and an enthusiasm equal to an

624 THE IRISH IN AMERICA.

emergency, whose importance no language can fully repre-
sent much less exaggerate. How this is to be done, —
whether by and through the action of the Imperial Legis-
lature, or by entrusting to Ireland a certain local power,
by which she might relieve the Parliament of England of
serious inconvenience and usefully manage much of her
affairs, — it is for the wisdom of statesmen, inspired by a
noble sense of duty, to determine. But faltering, and
hesitation, and delay will not answer ; neither will the old
system of wilful blindness and wanton self-delusion suffice
in the face of actual and increasing danger. The result, if
successful, would be worth any effort or any trouble ; for
once allow the Irish in America to believe that a brighter
day has dawned for their brethren in the old country, and
that it is for their advantage rather to be linked in affection
as in interest with Great Britain, than, by violent effort
and tremendous sacrifices, desperately seek to effect a
separation of the lesser from the greater country ; and the
feeling of bitter, rancorous, vengeful hate may gradually
soften and die out, and eventually fade into oblivion* like
a dream of the past. But, on the other hand, let con-
tinued wails of distress waft their mournful accents across
the ocean, stirring to its depths the heart of a passionate
and impulsive race ; and though Fenian leaders may quar-
rel or betray, and Fenian organisations may wither or
collapse, there must be perpetual danger to the peace, the
honour, if not the safety of England, from a power which
it is impossible to ignore, and madness to despise, —

THE IBISH IN AMERICA.

APPENDIX.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

Bishop Lynch's Letter.

Charleston, S. C., Feb. 23, 1867.

DEAR SIR,

In compliance with my promise. I undertake to give you a brief
statement of what an emigrant may look for who comes to the
Southern States, and especially to South Carolina, with the intention
of engaging iu agriculture.

This State may be divided into several belts, parallel to the sea-
coast, each one of which has its peculiarities. The first belt, next to
the ocean, is that of the Sea Islands, producing the finest quality of
cotton, and, of course, vegetables in abundance. In this belt the heat
is great. Frost in winter is almost unknown. Except immediately
on the sea-coast, a white man finds himself liable to fever. Lands
can be purchased in many places at two pounds sterling an acre ;
perhaps for less.

A second belt next to this one, is the rice-field belt. It is inter-
sected by a large number of streams, whose waters, though fresh, feel
the influence of the tides, and rise high enough to overflow vast
bodies of low lands on either side. • These lands are devoted to the
culture of rice, for which much irrigation is required. Hence, on the
whole, this belt is very unhealthy, being subject to malarial fevers.

Both of those belts are. and will, I think, for a long time, be
chiefly occupied by negroes, who are exempt from the fevers to which
the white man is liable.

A third belt, broader than both of the preceding ones, stretches across
the State. The soil is good, but the ground lies level, and is not
drained. Hence, at times, the crop is lost by too much water, at other
times withers for want of rain; and on the whole, the region ia
sickly, W<*re it thoroughly and systematically drained, which, perhaps,

27

626 APPENDIX.

could only be done under government auspices, it would be the
garden of the South.

Here lands may be readily bought for from four to ten shillings an
acre.

Another belt follows, of equal width. The land is more rolling,
the soil equally sandy, and with less lime. It is considered poor. But
when cultivated with ordinary skill, and manures are freely used, it
will produce abundant crops of cotton, of Indian corn, of potatoes,
and of all root crops and vegetables. It is eminently healthy, and I
have seen cases where intelligent and skilful labour reaped a crop of
cotton worth ten pounds sterling per acre.

A single man may cultivate four or five acres in cotton ; three or
four in Indian corn, and half an acre for a kitchen garden. The
Americans know little of the use of manures, and much prefer culti-
vating lands that need none, until they become worn out, when they
are left to grow up again in a forest ; and other fresh lands are cleared
and cultivated.

The lands of this fourth belt vary somewhat in character, in
different parts of the State, and vary in prices. But much of it can
be bought at from two to ten shillings per acre.

A fifth belt comprises lands that are more hilly and rolling than
the preceding, and are nearly all clay lands. They were occupied by
a farming population many years ago, and having been long cultivated
with little or no manure, and often in a very rude manner, they have
lost something of their original fertility. Still the settlers look on
them as more productive than the lands I have last spoken of; and
doubtless they are so in their hands. There are some portions of
them very fertile ; and these, of course, are held at high prices. But
at present, lands in this belt may be bought at from fifteen to twenty-
five shillings an acre.

Beyond this belt, and in the north-west part of the State, comes
the mountainous district; which, in soil, is much like mountainous
districts of any other country. -Meadows and table lands are very
rich, yielding excellent crops of Indian corn, of wheat, and other
cereals ; and the whole country is admirably adapted for grazing. I
am not able to say what is the average price of land in this belt.
Immigrants would, I think, do better settling on the fourth or fifth
belts, where land can easily be procured at the prices indicated, payable
on time, after a reasonable credit ; and in situations perfectly healthy,
and where there is always a demand for agricultural labourers, and a
ready access to market for the sale of the crop.

An immigrant coming to this State finds an entirely different
climate from that ' which he has left. In either of the three first

APPENDIX. 627

belts he will be liable, unless extremely careful not to expose himself,
to attacks of fever in autumn; though, even in these belts, some com-
paratively elevated spots are found which are perfectly healthy.

In the fourth belt there are places near swamps which are likewise
unhealthy ; and it is to the malaria arising from swamps, and not to
the heat of the season, that the fevers are to be attributed. The
greater portion of the State is quite healthy ; and the heat is by no
means so great as to prevent men labouring even twice as long as
their crops require. In point of fact, the crop is secure by the labour
done during our mild winters, and in spring before the heats of
summer set in ; and the ordinary crops, if well worked in time,
require only a slight attention after the middle of June. I have no
doubt that a farmer having one or two sons to aid him, and able to
command even a few pounds to start with, would, in a few years, find
himself worth hundreds of pounds.

Steps are being taken to invite immigrants to the South, and to
present to them at the North and in Ireland the special advantages of
the South. Now that negro slavery has been abolished, the negroes
are gradually retiring to the sea-coast. The lands in the interior
and upper belts, which I have recommended, are being thrown into
market, and will be occupied by a white population. It is desirable
that the families who emigrate should settle in groups hear each
other. By so doing, they will secure to themselves a social com-
panionship which they could scarcely have with the inhabitants of
the country until several years' acquaintance. They could have a
church and priest of their own, and Catholic schools for their chil-
dren.

This invitation to emigrants from Ireland is but a repetition of
what was done over a hundred years ago, when there was a large
immigration of Irish Protestant farmers to South Carolina; and with
them must have come many Catholics, who, in those days, when
there- was neither priest nor Catholicity in the country, soon lost the
Faith. This Irish immigration almost took possession of the State.
Irish family names abound in every rank and condition in life ; and
there are few men. natives of the State, in whose veins there does not
run more or less of Irish blood.

South Carolina is, probably, the most Irish of any of the States of
the Union.

While its inhabitants have always had the impetuous character of
the Irish race, nowhere has there been a more earnest sympathy for
the struggles of Irishmen at home ; nowhere will the Irish immi-
grant be received with greater welcome, or be more generously sup-
ported in all his rights; and I do not know any part of the country

628 APPENDIX.

where industry and sobriety would ensure to the immigrant who en-
gages in agriculture an ample competence for himself and family
within a briefer number of years.

I believe that all these points will be presented with due details to
those who wish to leave Ireland to better their fortunes in America,
by a special agent who may be sent out ; and also that proper arrange-
ments will likewise be provided for the passage of those who wish to
emigrate from Ireland direct to South Carolina.

So far as the ministrations of religion to those who come are con-
cerned, I have hopes that if they settle as I indicated, in groups, they
will be fully provided for.

I have the honour to be, my dear Sir, with great respect,
Your obedient, humble servant,

P. N. LYNCH, D. D.,

Bishop of Charleston.
J. F. MAOUIRB, Esq., M. P.
Cork, Ireland.

THE LAND.

Information for Emigrants.

Department of the Interior General Land Office,

Washington, D. C. December 24, 1866.

SIR, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the llth instant, enclosing one of 24th November (ultimo) addressed
to you by G. M. Allender, of the Farmer's Club, Salisbury Square,
London.

Your correspondent states, that a class of persons in England, con-
sisting of small farmers, or sons of farmers, with small capital, desire
to come to America, but are deterred for want of information ; that a
feeling prevails among this class, that all the best lands and positions
are secured by speculators, and that it is only poor lands, badly situated,
that can be obtained at the government price of $1.25 per acre— the
following questions in this connection being presented : —

1st In what States can good land, well situated, still be obtained at
the price of $1.25 per acre?

I send herewith a map, showing what are called the 'Public Land
States,' and territories of the United States, and in reply to this
question, state, that such lands may be had east of the Mississippi
river, in the upper and lower peninsula of Michigan, in Wisconsin, in

APPENDIX. 629

the gi;eat States west of the Mississippi, of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas, and in Nebraska, and that on the Pacific slope, extensive
bodies of public lands have been surveyed and are open to settlement
in the States of California, Oregon, and in the territory of Washington.
The great mineral bearing State Nevada, lying east of and contiguous
to California, is open to actual settlement, and there the public sur-
veys are in progress.

Returning east of the Mississippi, the whole public land surface
there will be found surveyed and subdivided in tracts as small as
forty acres each, which in eighty-acre tracts can be taken under the
Homestead Law, in the States of Florida. Alabama, Mississippi, Loui-
siana, and Arkansas.

Then the territories of Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona,
are open to settlement.

The territory of Idaho has just been organised into a land district,
whilst Utah and Montana are yet to be subjected to that organi-
sation.

2nd. Must lands so obtained be paid for immediately ?

In order that lands maybe placed in the class of those 'subject to
sale at private entry,7 they must have been first offered at public
auction, and thereafter, if not disposed of at public sale, are liable at
the time of application to be paid for, cither in cash, or with military
land scrip, or bounty land warrants at the rate of $1.25 per acre, for
the number of acres represented on the face of a warrant or scrip.

The minimum price of offered lands is $1.25 per acre, unless that
minimum shall have been doubled by reason of the construction of
some public work, as an internal improvement such as railroads, and
which materially increases the value of the lands in its vicinity ; but
even where there are United States reserved or $2.50 per acre sections,
homestead entries, to the extent of eighty acres each, may be made by
citizens or those who have declared their intentions to become such.

3rd. Would a certain adjoining district be reserved, say for a year
or two, so that there might be time to call the attention of persons
here to that special district ?

It is not the policy of the government to withdraw lands once
offered at public sale from entry, unless to subserve some important
public interest, such as the building of lines of railroads, to connect
centres of trade, or some other interest of like importance ; nor indeed
is it necessary to do so, as tracts varying from forty to one hundred
and sixty acres, or even larger size, can be had in some of the land
States or territories where the surveys have been extended, and offices
are open for the sale of such lands.

In regard to the apprehension that all the best lands and positions

(',30 APPENDIX.

had already been disposed of, it is proper to state that in the older
settled land States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the public lands,
generally, have been disposed of to actual settlers ; but in other States
hereinbefore mentioned, tracts to an immense extent of good land
well situated may be obtained. In the States of Minnesota, Iowa,
Wisconsin, Missouri, and Kansas, in the valley of the Mississippi
river, in the State of Michigan, in the vicinity of the great lakes, in
California and Oregon on the Pacific, and in the territories of Wash-
ington and Nebraska large bodies of good land, both prairie and timber,
are now subject to sale at private entry at $1.25 per acre; and in the
five first-mentioned States, and in Nebraska, the soil and climate are
held to be admirably adapted to the raising of such stock as is alluded
to by your correspondent.

There are also good lands well situated in Arkansas, Mississippi,
Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida ; but in those States, the public lands
are only subject to entry under the Homestead Act, approved June 21,
1866. ' '

I am, with great respect,

Your Obedient Servant,

(Signed) JOS. S. WILSON,

Commissioner

Hon. R. S. CHILTON,
Commissioner of Immigration,
Washington, D. C.

Department of the Interior General Land Office,

September 25, 1867.
SIR,

Agreeably to the request in your letter of the 17th, I enclose
herewith a copy of the Homestead Law. I also send you a list of the
local land offices in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,
Kansas, and Nebraska, and on application to either of these offices,
you will receive all needed information relative to the entry of any
lands subject to entry, under the Homestead Law, and situated in the
district where the land office to which you apply is located.

Very respectfully,

JOS. SMESIN,
Commissioner.

MICHIGAN.

Detroit, East Saginaw, Ionia, Marquette, Traverse City.

APPENDIX. 631

WISCONSIN.

Menasha, Falls of St. Croix, Stevens' Point, La Crosse, Bayfield,
Eau Claire.

MINNESOTA.

Taylor's Falls, St. Cloud, Winnebago City, St. Peter, Greenleaf,
Du Luth.

IOWA.
Fort Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Fort Dodge, Sioux City.

MISSOURI.
Boonville, Ironton, Springfield.

KANSAS.
Topeka, Junction City, Humboldt.

ARKANSAS.
Little Rock, Washington, Clarksville.

NEBRASKA T.

•

Omaha City, Brownsville, Nebraska City, Dakota City.

An Act to secure Homesteads to Actual Settlers on the Public

Domain.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who
is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one
years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed
his declaration of intention to become such, as required by the natura-
lization laws of the United States, and who has never borne arms
against the United States Government or given aid and comfort to its
enemies, shall, from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and
sixty-three, be entitled to enter one quarter section or a less quantity of
unappropriated public lands, upon which said person may have filed a
pre-emption claim, or which may, at the time the application is made,
be subject to pre-emption at one dollar and twenty-five cents, or less,
per acre ; or eighty acres or less of such unappropriated lands, at two
dollars and fifty cents per acre, to be located in a body, in conformity
to the legal subdivisions of the public lands, and after the same shall
have been surveyed : Provided, That any person owning and residing
on land may, under the provisions of this act, enter other land lying
contiguous to his or her said land, which shall not, with the land so
already owned and occupied, exceed in the aggregate one hundred
and sixty acres.

G32 APPENDIX.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the person applying for the
benefit of this act shall, upon application to the register of the land
office in which he or she is about to make such entry, make affidavit
before the said register or receiver that he or she is the head of a
family, or is twenty-one or more years of age, or shall have performed
service in the army or navy of the United States, and that he has
never borne arms against the Government of the United States or
given aid and comfort to its enemies, and that such application is made
for his or her exclusive use and benefit, and that said entry is made
for the purpose of actual settlement and cultivation, and not, either
directly or indirectly, for the use or benefit of any other persons or
persons whomsoever ; and upon filing the said affidavit with the register
or receiver, and on payment of ten dollars, he or she shall thereupon be
permitted to enter the quantity of land specified : Provided, however,
That no certificate shall be given or patent issued therefor until the
expiration of five years from the date of such entry ; and if, at the
expiration of such time, or at any other time within two years there-
after, the*, person make such entry — or if he be dead, his widow ; or
in case of her death, his heirs or devisee ; or in case of a widow
making such entry, her heirs or devisee, in case of her death — shall
prove by two credible witnesses that he, she, or they have resided upon
or cultivated the same for the term of five years immediately succeed-
ing the time of filing the affidavit aforesaid, and shall make affidavit
that no part of said land has been alienated, and that he has borne
true allegiance to the Government of the United States ; then, in such
case, he. she, or they, if at any time a citizen of the United States,
shall be entitled to a patent, as in other cases provided for by law :
And provided, further, That in case of the death of both father and
mother, leaving an infant child, or children under twenty-one years
of age, the right and fee shall ensure to the benefit of said infant
child or children ; and the executor, administrator or guardian may,
at any time within two years after the death of the surviving parent,
and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such children
for the time being have their domicil, sell said land for the benefit
of said infants, but for no other purpose ; and the purchaser shall
acquire the absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent
from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of
money herein specified.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the register of the land office

•shall note all such applications on the tract books and plats of his

office, and keep a register of all such entries, and make return thereof

to the General Land Office, together with the proof upon which they

have been founded.

APPENDIX. 633

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no lands acquired under the
provisions of this act shall in any event become liable to the satis-
faction of any debt or debts contracted prior to the issuing of the
patent therefor.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That if at any time after the
filing of the. affidavit, as required in the second section of this act,
and before the expiration of the five years aforesaid, it shall be proven,
after due notice to the settler, to the satisfaction of the register of the
land office, that the person having filed such affidavit shall have
actually changed his or her residence, or abandoned the said land for
more than six months at any time, then and in that event the land
so entered shall revert to the Government.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That no individual shall be per-
mitted to acquire title to more than one quarter section under the
provisions of this act; and that the Commissioner of the General
Land Office is hereby required to prepare and issue such rules and
regulations, consistent with this act, as shall be necessary and proper
to carry its provisions into effect ; and that the registers and receivers
of the several land offices shall be entitled to receive the same com-
pensation for any lands entered under the provisions of this act that
they are now entitled to receive when the same quantity of land is
entered with money, one half to be paid by the person making the
application at the time of so doing, and the other half on the issue of
(he certificate by the person to whom it may be issued ; but this shall
not be construed to enlarge the maximum of compensation no\r pre-
scribed by law for any register or receiver : Provided, That nothing
contained in this act shall be so construed as to impair or interfere in
any manner whatever with existing pre-emption rights : And provided,
further, That all persons who may have filed their applications for a
pre-emption right prior to the passage of this act shall be entitled to
all privileges of this act : Provided, further, That no person who has
served, or may hereafter serve, for a period of not less than fourteen
days in the army or navy of the United States, either regular or
volunteer, under the laws thereof, during the existence of an actual
war, domestic or foreign, shall be deprived of the benefits of this
act on account of not having attained the age of twenty-one years.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the act
entitled 'An act in addition to an act more effectually to provide for
the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for
other purposes,' approved the third of March, in*the year eighteen
hundred and fifty-seven, shall extend to all oaths, affirmations, and
affidavits, required or authorised by this act.

SKC. 8. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall be

634 APPENDIX.

so construed as to prevent any person who has availed him or herself
of the benefits of the first section of this act from paying the minimum
price, or the price to which the same may have graduated, for the
quantity of land so entered at any time before the expiration of the
five years, and obtaining a patent therefor from the Government, as
in other cases provided by law, on making proof of settlement and
cultivation as provided by existing laws granting pre-emption rights.
Approved May 20, 1862.

SLAVERY.

IT has been frequently said that the Irish in America were, as a
rule, in favour of slavery. Were it said that they were, as a rule,
against slavery, the statement would be much nearer to the truth. I
never heard an Irishman in a Northern State say one word in its
favour. Some with whom I spoke were enthusiastic approvers of its
extinction at any cost or sacrifice, as purging the country of a great
evil, if not a great sin; while others, less enthusiastic, or more re-
flecting, held that its gradual extinction wo'uld have been wiser, more
politic, and not likely to produce the difficulties and embarrassments
which sudden emancipation was but too certain to create ; not alone
because the Slave-owning States were unprepared for so sweeping a
revolution, but that the slave himself was unsuited to the abrupt
cessation of all restriction or control whatever. These Irishmen
regretted the existence of slavery, and justly regarded it as a fatal
legacy left by England to the people of America ; but they were
rather in favour of gradual, yet inevitable change, than of violent or
reckless revolution. I repeat. I never heard an Irishman in a Northern
State speak in favour of slavery as an institution.

Then as to Irishmen in the South ; I must equally assert, that I
never heard an Irishman in a Southern State, not to say approve
of. but justify slavery. Southern Irishmen believed, perhaps more
strongly than their countrymen in the North, that neither the circum-
stances of the country nor the character, capacity nor training of the
negro was suited to sudden emancipation ; but they at the same time
expressed themselves as having always been in favour of gradual and
prudent abolition— the final extinction of that which they felt to be
a cause of grave social injury and national weakness, and likewise a
fruitful source of political trouble, possibly ultimate convulsion. But
these Southern Irishmen took their stand on the fundamental principle
of State Sovereignty, as guaranteed by the Constitution, and denied that
Congress bad any right whatever to interfere with the institutions of

APPENDIX. 635

individual States. They held.— and in this they had the sympathy of
a vast number of their countrymen in the North, — that the emanci-
pation of the slave, especially regarding it in its present results, was
hardly worth the torrents of generous blood shed in its accomplish-
ment. Still, they are satisfied at seeing an end to a cause of weakness
and contention between different portions of the Union, though they
know the South has to pass through some further tribulation before
things can settle down into perfect order and tranquillity.

This is the result of my information on this point, derived from
unreserved communication with Irishmen at both sides of the line.

And as to the policy of the Catholic Church with respect to slavery,
I cannot do better, than subjoin the following interesting communi-
cation from an eminent ecclesiastic, who affords as much information
upon the subject as I can venture to press into this note.

Bishop England wrote a series of letters on Domestic Slavery, in
which he undertakes to show the position of the Catholic Church on
that question. The ' abolitionist ' party had then caused great ex-
citement at the South. They were resisted on two grounds: first,
because the interference- of other States, or of Congress, in that
question would have been subversive of the American system of
government, the question being one of those reserved to the authority
of each State, which on such a point was sovereign. To try inter-
ference with them from without their own States would have been an
invasion of their rights, as much as if it had been done by the British
Parliament. -Second, because emancipation, even if desirable, should
be conducted with precautions which the Abolitionists were unwilling
to listen to.

Besides those who resisted him on these grounds, there were, of
course, many who defended slavery as in itself a desirable condition
of things, especially for the coloured race.

Bishop England did not belong to the latter class ; and in a note to
the last letter of the series alluded to he defines his position as
follows. He was obliged to interrupt the course of letters he intended
publishing, and on the 23rd of April, 1840. he writes as follows to the
editors of the 4 United States Catholic Miscellany ' in which they were
published :—

' Gentlemen, — My more pressing duties will not permit me for some
' weeks to continue the letters on the compatibility of domestic slavery
' with practical religion. I have been asked by many a question which
4 1 may as well answer at once, viz. Whether I am friendly to the
' existence or continuation of slavery ? / am not. But I also see the
' impossibility of now abolishing it here. When it can and ought to
' be abolished, is a question for the legislature, and not for me.' (See
his Works, vol. iii. p. 190.)

Any one acquainted with the state of feeling on this subject in
Charleston at the time, cannot but feel that a great amount of courage
was necessary to say even that much.

636 APPENDIX.

On his return from Europe some time after, be informed one of his
most intimate friends, that he intended resuming the subject, and
showing what were the rights of slaves, as Christians and as men,
what were the duties of masters ; and that he intended giving the
slaveholders a lecture, such as they never had received before. In the
published letters he was anxious 4o show them that the Catholic
Church had never declared the holding of slaves to be in itself sinful ;
that the Encyclical Letter of Gregory XVI.. which had given rise
to the controversy, condemned the capture of free men, and taking
them unjustly into slavery, as war had done on the coast of Africa,
but did not affect domestic slavery under all circumstances. His in-
tention was to show what rights the slave necessarily retained, which
masters and legislatures were bound to respect and to protect; and
having first cleared himself from the charge of abolitionism in its
political meaning as then understood, he intended to be frank and
full in this subject. It is to be regretted that sickness, and then
death, prevented the carrying out of this idea. I have no doubt that
he would have been a powerful advocate of the poor slave in his
rights as to personal protection, and religious liberty, and in his family
relations, reducing the masters claims merely to his labour, for which
compensation was given in food, clothing. <fcc. ; and even the system
that denied him the power of disposing of them as he pleased, would
have been shown fraught with many evils, and a change loudly called
for as soon as circumstances would admit of it.

I would refer to two other facts, showing the position of the
Catholic Church in the South with regard to slavery. One was a
sermon preached, I think, in New Orleans, while the Southern Con-
federacy was at the moment of its highest prospect of success, by
Bishop Verot of Savannah. He first undertook to prove that slavery
was not essentially sinful, and he answered the objection made against
it. But then he went on to show in what condition it could be tole-
rated amongst Christians. He showed what were the rights of
slaves, and the obligations of masters, in a manner which would have
deprived it of its chief horrors. This during the reign of the Con-
federacy !

During the same time Bishop M'Gill published a book at Richmond,
in which he stated it as his opinion, that the calamities under which
the country was suffering might be attributed to a chastisement of
Heaven for the manner in which the slaves were left unprotected in
their marriage relations.

ESSENTIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE FOREIGN ELE-
MENT TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

IT may be of some advantage to exhibit the importance of the
foreign element to the American Republic, not alone in developing
the general resources of the country, and assisting to occupy and
populate, and thus make valuable, new territories ; but to preserve

APPENDIX. G37

from gradual decay, from annual wasting away, from eventual and
absolute extinction, communities which were at one time hostile to the
foreigner, and even haughtily impatient of his presence. This absurd
hostility to the foreigner was more prevalent in the New England
States than in any other portion of the Union ; and in Massachusetts
various 'isms' of the Native-American stamp, almost invariably op-
posed to the stranger, have had their origin. And yet it is beyond
doubt that, only for the foreign element, or the infusion of life-blood
into the failing system of this most prominent of these New England
States, its population would have dwindled away, and, practically,
would have given up the ghost ! This, no doubt, is a very startling
announcement, if true. But is it true ? It is indisputable, there
cannot be a doubt as to its truth.

The Secretary of the Board of State Charities, in his Third Annual
Report, dated October 186G, makes use of, and incorporates with the
first part of that Report, a document to which he attaches evident
importance. It forms a portion of the Fourth Chapter, and is headed
' Inferences from Registration and Census Reports.' The paper in
question is thus introduced : —

' In closing this part of my Report, I shall have occasion to avail
' myself of the studies of a member of this Board, formerly its Chair-
' man, and now the Chairman of its Committee on Statistics. The
' patient investigations which Dr. Allen has been making for years in
' regard to the increase of population in Massachusetts, have led him
' to some conclusions which to many appear novel and startling, while
1 others recognise them as familiar to the course of their own thoughts.
1 At my request, he has allowed me to cite from his manuscripts the
• following passages.'

Unfortunately there is not space remaining to do full justice to one
of the most remarkable and suggestive papers ever presented to the
American public ; but a few extracts from it will be sufficient to show
how essential to the progress — nay, the very life — of the New England
States is their foreign, in other words, their Irish population.

The increase in these ten years of those born in Massachusetts is
110,313, but a considerable portion are the children of foreigners. By
referring to the table of those born in foreign lands, it will be seen
that there was an increase of emigrants from Ireland in these ten
years of 69.517. The number must have been considerably larger
than this, as many counted foreign born in the Census of 1850 must
have died between that date and 18f>0. The whole increase of foreign
born from 1850 to I860 was 99.206. The foreign element, next largest
to the Irish, is 27,0(59 from British America, including persons of
Canadian, French, English. Irish and Scotch extraction. Next in
point of numbers are the English, German and Scotch. It should be
observed that this second table gives only those born in a foreign

638 APPENDIX.

land, and not the children of foreigners born in Massachusetts. These
are included in the first table, among the 805,549 born within the
State.*

The remaining extracts, which will be found of very great interest,
are now given, and may well stand without note or comment : —

JJ. — The Foreign Element in Massachusetts.

But in order to understand correctly the increase and the changes
in our population, the history and number of those of a foreign origin
must be carefully noted. The rapid increase of this class, and the
changes consequent upon its future growth, afford themes which de-
serve the most grave consideration.

The Census at different periods returns this element as follows : —
1830, 9,620; 1840, 34.818; 1850, 164,448; and 1860, 260.114. Here
within 30 years, commencing with less than 10,000, we have an in-
crease, by immigration alone, to over 250.000. It should be observed,
that this does not include the great number of children born in this
State of foreign extraction. The first Registration Report that dis-
criminated in the births as to parentage was that of 1850, returning
8,197 of this class, and 3,278 mixed or not stated. In 1860, the
number had increased to 17,549, besides nearly 1,000 not stated. In
1850, the foreign births were only one-half as many as the American,
but they continued to gain every year afterwards upon the American till
1860, when they obtained a majority. This year* will ever constitute an
important era in the history of Massachusetts when the foreign element,
composing only about one-third part of the population of the State, pro-
duced more children than the American. Since 1860 they have gained
every year upon the American, till in 1 865 their births numbered 'almost
1 ,000 more than the American. '

From 1850 to I860, the Registration Reports make the foreign births
137,146, besides 18,598 not stated, a large portion of which un-
doubtedly was of foreign origin. Then the number of such births from
1830 to 1850 cannot be definitely stated, but, judging by the amount
of foreign population at this period and its fruitfulness at other times,
the number of births would certainly come up to 50.000 or more.
Now what proportion of those of this character born from 1830 to
1860, might have been living when the Census of 1860 was taken, we
cannot tell ; all that can be determined upon the subject is only an
approximation to the truth. It is estimated, where the mortality is
largest, that only from two-fifths to one-half of all those born— includ-
ing both the city and the country — live to reach adult life. After
making allowance for this fact, and "considering that by far the largest
proportion of these births occurred in the years immediately preceding
1860, we think it perfectly safe to say that there must have been over
100,000 persons of this class included in the United States Census
returned as native born in Massachusetts, or, in other words, as

* 'Children born in the United States of foreign parents, are classed as Ameri-
can. Had the children of foreigners been included with the foreign born, the
figures in the column of the foreign population would have been much more
imposing.'— U. S. Census, 1860, Abstract p. 337

'It must be remembered that the children born in the United States of
foreign parents are classed with the natives.' —State Census Abstract, p. 233,
1855.

APPENDIX. 639

American. This fact would change materially the Census report. It
would take at least 100,000 from the American portion— 970.000—
and add 100,000 to the 260.000 reported as born in foreign countries.
This result makes at that time almost one-half of our population strictly
of a foreign origin ! It is expressly stated, both in the United States
and State Censuses, that the returns are made upon the nativities of
the population. Judging by these facts and figures, it would seem
that the foreign population is actually much larger in this State than has
generally been considered.

III. — Distribution and Employment of the Foreign Population.

But this class of people do not all live in the cities. They are
found scattered in almost every town and neighbourhood in the Com-
monwealth. The men came first to build railroads, to dig canals,
cellars, and aid in laying the foundation of mills, dwellings, and public
buildings. Then came the women to act as servants and domestics in
families, as well as to find useful employment in shops and mills.
Then came parents, children and whole families. To such an extent
have they increased by immigration and birth, that they now perform
a very large portion of the domestic service in all our families : they
constitute everywhere a majority of the hired labourers upon the farm ;
they are found extensively engaged in trade and mechanical pursuits,
particularly in the shoe business, and compose by far the largest pro-
portion of all the operatives in the mills.

Within a few years, they have become extensive owners of real
estate. In the cities they have built or bought a very large number
of small shops and cheap dwellings, and in the rural districts as well
as in the farming towns throughout the State, they have purchased
very extensively small lots of land, small places, and old farms par-
tially run out ; and (what is significant) they pay for whatever real
estate they buy, and are scarcely ever known to sell any. In fact, it has
£ome to such a pass, that they perform a very large proportion of the
physical labour throughout the State, whether it be in the mill or in
the shop, whether in the family or upon the farm. As far as muscular
exercise is concerned, they constitute 'the bone and sineio' of the land,
and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to dispense with their ser-
vices. Every year the Americans are becoming more and more depen-
dent upon them for manual labour, both in-doors and out-of-doors.
Should the foreign population continue to increase as they have in the
past twenty or thirty years, and the American portion remain sta-
tionary to decrease, a question of no ordinary interest arises, what will
be the state of society thirty or fifty years hence in this Common-
wealth ?

IV — Comparative Increase of Natives and Foreigners.

From 1850 to 1866, the fifteen Registration Reports return 208,730
births of strictly foreign parentage, besides 22.376 not stated, a large
portion of which must be foreign. All of these living when the Census
is taken, would be considered, according to present usage, American ;

G40 APPENDIX.

whereas they should be counted strictly under the foreign head. A
careful analysis of the Census and Registration Reports presents the
following facts : —

The increase of population in the State has been confined principally
to cities and towns where manufacturing, mechanical and commercial
business is carried on. In the purely agricultural districts, there has
been very little increase of population. Railroads have had a powerful
influence in changing the population of the State from the hills and
country towns to the valleys and plains. Wherever water-power, or
steam-power, has been introduced, or where trade and commerce ha.s
found advantages, there population has greatly increased. The eastern
section of the State has increased far more than the middle or western
districts. Population, in manufacturing places has increased about five
times more than in agricultural districts. It is found also, wherever
there has been much or a rapid increase of population, it has been made
up largely of a foreign element. Now if a line could be drawn exactly
between the American and foreign population, as it respects this
increase, it would throw much light upon the subject. According to
the Census of I860, it appears that two counties — Dukes and Nan-
tucket — had actually decreased in population. There were eighty-six
towns also which had diminished in population between 1850 and 1860.
In a small part of these towns, this change is accounted for by the
fact that some section of the place had, in the mean time, been set off
to another town. The places in the State that have increased the least,
or declined in population, are found to be settled generally with American
stuck. •

A serious question here arises, Is there a natural increase in this
class of the community ? It is generally admitted that foreigners have
a far greater number of children, for the same number of inhabitants,
than the Americans. It is estimated by some physicians, that the same
number of married persons of the former have, on an average, three
times as many children as an equal number of those of the latter. This
gives the foreign element great power of increase of population — de-
rived not so much from emigration as from the births, exceeding*
greatly the deaths.

*********

In a report upon the comparative view of the population of Boston
in 1849 and 1850, made to the city government. November 1851.
Dr. Jesse Chickering, after a most careful analysis of the Births and
Deaths in Boston, states that 'the most important fact derived from
this view, is the result that the whole increase of population arising
from the excess of Births over Deaths for these two years, has been
among the foreign population.' Since 1850 we think it will be very
difficult to prove that there has been any natural increase of popula-
tion in Boston with the strictly American population.

Again, many towns in the State have been settled over two hun-
dred years, and their history will include from six to eight genera-
tions. The records of several of these towns have been carefully
examined with respect to the relative number of children in each
generation. It was found that the families comprising the first genera-
tion had on an average between eight and ten children ; the next three
generations averaged between seven and eight to each family ; the fifth

APPENDIX. 641

generation about jive, and the sixth less than three to each family.
What a change as to the size of the families since those olden times I
Then large families were common, — now the exception ; then it was
rare to find married persons having only one, two or three children;
now it is very common! Then it was regarded a calamity for a married
couple to have no children — now such calamities are found on every
sid* of us — in fad, they are fashionable.

It is the uniform testimony of physicians who have been exten-
sively engaged in the practice of medicine, twenty, thirty, forty and
fifty years in this State, — and who have the best possible means of
understanding this whole subject. — that there has been gradually a very
great falling off in the number of children among American families.

This decrease of children is found to prevail in country towns and
rural districts almost to the same extent as in the cities, which is contrary
to the general impression. In view of these facts", several questions
naturally arise :— If the foreign population in Massachusetts continues
to increase as it has, and the American portion remains stationary, or
decreases, as the probabilities indicate, what will be the state of
society here twenty-five, fifty or a hundred years hence ? How long
will it be before the foreign portion will outnumber the American in
our principal cities and towns, or constitute even a majority in the
whole Commonwealth ?

The cause why there should be such a difference in the number of
children, between the American families now upon the stage, and
those of the same stock, one, two and three generations ago, is a
subject of grave enquiry. Again, why should there be such a dif-
ference in this respect, between American families and those of the
English. German, Scotch and Irish of the present day? Is this dif-
ference owing to our higher civilisation or to a more artificial mode
of life and the unwholesome state of society? Or can it be attributed
to a degeneracy in the physical condition and organisation of females, or
a settled determination icith the married to have no children or a very
limited number ? '

' Such,' says the Secretary. ' are the questions raised by Dr. Allen,
and such are some of the facts which their investigation calls forth.'

With the questions raised by Dr. Allen in this Public Document,
which Massachusetts has published among its State Papers, I do not
attempt to deal; but I may respectfully suggest another. — namely,
Does not Native-Americanism, or Know-Nothingism, or any similar
• ism,' appear intensely ridiculous and profoundly absurd, in the face
of such facts as these?

642 APPENDIX.

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF MAJOR-GENERAL
P. R. CLEBURNE,

(BY GENERAL W. T. llARDEE.)

THE sketch is necessarily imperfect, from the want of official records.
Most of these were lost or destroyed by the casualties attending the
close of the late war ; and those still in existence are difficult of access.
Of Cleburne's early life little is known — the record of his service in the
Southern armies belongs to the yet unwritten history of ' the lost
cause/ In better days, when the passions and prejudices engendered
by civil strife shall have disappeared, and history brings in a dis-
passionate verdict, the name of Cleburne will appear high in the lists
of patriots and warriors. Until then, his best record is in the hearts
of his adopted countrymen.

With brief exceptions Cleburne served under my immediate com-
mand during his military career. He succeeded first to the brigade,
and then to the division which I had previously commanded ; and it
is to me a grateful recollection, that circumstances enabled me to
further his advancement to those important trusts. From personal
knowledge, therefore, gained in an intercourse and observation ex-
tending through a period of nearly four years, I can give you an
outline sketch of Cleburne's character and services.

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was an Irishman by birth, a Southerner
by adoption and residence, a lawyer by profession ; a soldier in the
British army, by accident, in his youth; and a soldier in the Southern
armies, from patriotism and conviction of duty, in his manhood. Upon
coming to the United States he located at Helena, Arkansas, where
he studied and practised law.

In that profession he had, previous to the great struggle, formed a
co-partnership with General T. C. Hindman. His standing as a lawyer
was high, as indicated by this association with a gentleman distin-
guished as an orator and advocate.

It was at this period of his life that, in the unorganised and turbulent
condition of society, incident to a newly settled country, he established
a reputation for courage and firmnesss, which was afterwards approved
by a still more trying ordeal. In the commencement of the war for
Southern independence, he enlisted as a private. He was subsequently
made captain of his company, and shortly after was elected and com-
missioned colonel of his regiment. Thus, from one grade to another,
lie gradually rose to the high rank he held when he fell. It is but
scant praise to say, there was no truer patriot, no more courageous
soldier, nor, of his rank, more able commander, in the Southern armies ;

APPENDIX. 643

and it is not too much to add that his fall was a greater loss to the
cause he espoused thau that of any other Confederate leader, after
Stone\vall Jackson. In the oamp of the army which Albert Sydney
Johnston assembled at Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the autumn of 186,1,
Cleburne had an opportunity in the drill and organisation of the raw
troops, of which that army was then composed, of proving his qualifi-
cations as a disciplinarian and commander. His natural abilities in
this respect had probably been fostered by his early tuition in the
British army; and upon his becoming a soldier a second time, were
perfected by unremitting study and labour. These qualities secured
his promotion to brigadier-general. In April, 1862, Albert Sydney
Johnston concentrated his forces at Corinth, Mississippi, to attack
General Grant, who had landed an army at Pittsburg. on the Ten-
nessee river, which was now encamped near Shiloh Church, about
three miles from the landing. The attack was made on the morning
of the 6th of April. Cleburne's brigade was of my corps, which formed
the front line of attack. The enemy were steadily driven for three
miles through their encampments, past the rich spoils with which a
luxurious soldiery had surrounded themselves, and over the heaps of
their dead and dying, until the broken and demoralised masses sought
the shelter of the river's banks, and the cover of their gunboats.
Albert Sydney Johnston had fallen in action about 2 o'clock P.M.
His successor in command, General Beauregard, deemed it best, late
in the evening, to recall the pursuit. At the moment of recall,
Cleburne was pressing on, within 400 yards of Pittsburg Landing,
behind the cliffs of which cowered the masses of hopeless and helpless
fugitives. That night the enemy were reinforced by the arrival of a
fresh array under Buell ; and, on the evening of the 7th, the Southern
forces, after maintaining, through the day, the now unequal struggle,
withdrew, unpursued, to Corinth. In this battle Cleburne's brigade sus-
tained a heavier loss in killed and wounded than any other in the army.
At the initiation of General Bragg's Kentucky campaign, in the
summer of 18G2, Cleburne's brigade, with one other, was detatched
and united with Kirby Smith's column, which, starting from Knox-
ville, Tennessee, was to penetrate Kentucky through Cumberland Gap
and form a junction with the main army under General Bragg, which
moved from Chattanooga into Kentucky by a different rout. Kirby
Smith's forces encountered opposition at Richmond, Kentucky, in
September. There Cleburne directed the first day's fighting, and in
his first handling of an independent command was mainly instru-
mental in winning a victory, which, in the number of prisoners and
amount of stores captured, and in the utter dispersion and destruction
of the opposing force, was one of the most complete of the war. For

644 APPENDIX.

' gallant and meritorious service ' here, he received an official vote of
thanks from the Congress of the Confederate States. In this action
he received a 'singular wound. The missile, a minie rifle ball, entered
the aperture of the mouth while his mouth was open, in the act of
giving a command to the troops in action, without touching his lips,
and passed out of the left cheek, carrying away in its course five
lower teeth, without touching or injuring the bone. This wound
did not prevent his taking part in the battle of Perryville on the 8th
of October following, where he rejoined my command, and was again
wounded while leading his brigade in a gallant charge.

An incident occurred in the march out of Kentucky, which will
serve to illustrate Cleburne?s indomitable will and energy. On the
road selected for the passage of ordnance and supply trains of the
army, was a very difficult hill, at which the trains unable to pass
over it, or to go round it, came to a dead halt. The enemy were
pressing the rear, the trains were immovable, and nothing seemed left
but to destroy them, to prevent their falling into the hands of the
enemy ; orders had actually been given for their destruction when
Cleburne, who was disabled and off duty on account of his wound,
came up. He asked and was given unlimited authority in the pre-
mises. He at once stationed guards in the road, arrested every
straggler and passing officer and soldier, collected a large force,
organised fatigue parties, and literally lifted the trains over the hill.
The trains thus preserved contained munitions and subsistence of the
utmost value and necessity to the Confederates. It is by no means
certain even that the army could have made its subsequent long
march through a sterile and wasted country without them.

In December 1862, General Bragg concentrated his army at Mur-
freesboro. Tennessee, to oppose the Federal forces assembled at Nash-
ville under Rosecraris. At this time, Major-general Buckner, then
commanding the division of which Cleburne's brigade formed a part,
was transferred to other service, and the President of the Confederate
States, who was on a visit to the army at the time, promoted Cleburne
to the vacant division. Rosecrans' advance upon Bragg brought on the
battle of Murfreesboro, Dec. 31. 1862. In the action of this day Cleburne's
was one of the two divisions under my command, which attacked the
right wing of the Federal army, under M-Cook. This wing was beaten
and driven three miles, until its extreme right was doubled back upon
the centre of the Federal army. During the day, Cleburne's division in
single line of battle, without reinforcement, rest, or refreshment, en-
countered and drove before it five successive lines of battle, which the
Federal commander-in-chief withdrew from his intact centre and left
to reinforce his broken right. The general results of the day were not

APPENDIX. 645

decisive in favour of the Southern arms ; but this heightens the
achievement of that portion of the army which was successful, and
the merit of the officer whose skilful handling of his division contri-
buted materially to that success.

From the battle of Murfreesboro' to that of Chickamauga. in Sep-
tember, 18G3. military operations in the army with which Cleburne
was connected were of a desultory and undecisive character. But
outpost duty in close proximity to an enemy superior in numbers,
afforded Cleburne occasion for the exercise of his high soldierly
qualities of vigilance and activity. In the advance from Tullahoma
to Wartrace, and the subsequent retirement of the army to Chatta-
nooga, his division habitually formed the vanguard in advance and
the rearguard in retreat. The battle of Chickamauga — an Indian
name which signifies 'the river of death1 — wrote the bloodiest page
in the history of Western battles. General Bragg, reinforced by
Longstreet's corps from Virginia, on the 19th and 20th of September
engaged and. after an obstinate contest, defeated, Rosecrans' army,
which, routed and demoralised, retreated within its line of works at
Chattanooga. In this battle Cleburne's division bore its usual promi-
nent part ; a charge made by it, in the struggle for position in the
adjustment of lines on the Saturday evening preceding the Sunday's
final conflict, is described as especially magnificent and effective.

The Confederate forces soon after occupied Missionary Ridge, and
partially invested Chattanooga, with the object of cutting off the
supplies of the army within its lines. The attempt was but partially
successful. Meantime the Federal government despatched General
Grant to succeed Rosecrans in command, and recalled Sherman's
army from Mississippi to reinforce him. On the 2Jth of November,
Grant, reinforced by Sherman, attacked Bragg, weakened by the de-
tachment of Longsrreet's corps, and carried the position of the. Con-
federate left on Lookout Mountain. On the 2oth a general attack
was made upon the Confederate line. The right wing, under my
command, consisted of four divisions — Cleburne's on the extreme
right. The attacking force in this part of the field was commanded
by General Sherman. The enemy made repeated and vigorous
assaults, which were repelled with heavy loss to the assailants.
Cleburne's position on the right was most insecure, from its liabi-
lity to be turned. He maintained it with his accustomed ability,
and upon the repulse of the last assault, directed in person a
counter charge, which effected the capture of a large number of
prisoners and several stands of colours. The assailants gave up the
contest and withdrew from our front. But while the cheers of victory
raised on the right wore extending down the line, the left of the

646 APPENDIX.

army had been carried by assault, and the day was lost. All that now
remained to the victorious right was to. cover the retreat of the army.
This it did successfully. If the right, instead of the left of the army,
had been carried, it would have given the enemy possession of the
only line of retreat, and no organised body of the Confederate army
could have escaped. In the gloom of night-fall, Cleburne's division,
the last to retire, sadly withdrew from the ground it had held so
gallantly, and brought up the rear of the retiring army.

The enemy next day organised a vigorous pursuit ; and on the
morning of the second day, its advance, Hooker's corps, came up with
Cleburne at Ringgold Gap. The enemy moved to attack what they
supposed a demoralised force with great confidence. Cleburne had
made skilful dispositions to receive the attack, and repulsed it with
such serious loss, that pursuit was abandoned, and the pursuing force
returned to its lines. Here Cleburne again received the thanks of
Congress for meritorious conduct.

The Southern army now went into winter quarters at Dalton, in
North Georgia. Cleburne's division occupied an outpost at Tunnel
Hill. He devoted the winter months to the discipline and instruction
of his troops, and revived a previously-adopted system of daily recita-
tions in tactics and the art of war. He himself heard the recitations
of his brigade commanders, a quartette of lieutenants worthy their
captain — the stately Granberry, as great of heart as of frame, a noble
type of the Texan soldier — Govan, true and brave as he was courteous
and gentle — Polk, young, handsome, dashing and fearless, and —
Lowry, the parson soldier, who preached to his men in camp and fought
them in the field with equal earnestness and effect. These brigadiers
heard the recitations of the regimental officers, and they in turn of
the company officers. The thorough instruction thus secured, first
applied on the drill ground, and then tested in the field, gave the
troops great efficiency in action.

About *this time the terms of enlistment of the three years1 men
began to expire. It was of critical importance to the Southern cause
that these men should re-enlist. The greater part of Cleburne's divi-
sion consisted of Arkansans and Texans, who were separated from
their homes by the Mississippi river. This river, patroled by Federal
gunboats, was an insuperable barrier to communication. Many of
these men had not beard from their homes and wives and little ones
for three years. To add to this, the occasional reports received from
the trans-Mississippi were but repeated narratives of the waste and
ravage of their homes by the Federal soldiery. No husband could
know that his wife was not homeless — no father, that his children
were not starving. Every instinct that appeals most powerfully and

APPENDIX. 647

most sacredly to manhood, called upon these men to return to their
homes as soon as they could do so honourably. Cleburne was a man
of warm sympathies, and he felt profoundly the extent of the sacrifice
his men were called upon to make ; but with Roman virtue he set
high above all other earthly considerations the achievement of South-
ern independence. He adapted himself to the peculiar conditions
of a volunteer soldiery, and laying aside the commander, he ap-
pealed to his men, as a man and a comrade, to give up everything
else and stand by the cause and the country. He succeeded in
inspiring them with his own high purpose and exalted patriotism, and
the result was the early and unanimous re-enlistment of his division.
The Confederate Congress passed later a Conscription Act that retained
the three years' men in service ; but those whose terms of enlistment
expired in the interim would meantime have returned to their homes,
and the moral effect of voluntary re-enlistment would have been lost
to the cause.

Cleburne fully comprehended the disproportion in the military re-
sources of the .North and South, and was the first to point out the
only means left the South to recruit her exhausted numbers. In
January, 1864, he advocated calling in the negro population to the
aid of Southern arms. He maintained that negroes accustomed to
obedience from youth, would, under the officering of their masters,
make even better soldiers for the South than they had been proven to
make under different principles of organisation for the North. He
insisted that it was the duty of the Southern people to waive con-
siderations of property and prejudices of caste, and bring to their aid
this powerful auxiliary. He pointed out further that recruits could
be obtained on the borders, who would otherwise fall into the hands
of the Federal armies, and be converted into soldiers to swell the
ranks of our enemies. His proposition met the disfavour of both
government and people. A year later it was adopted by Congress,
with the approval of the country, when it was too late.

The following extract of a note written about this time to a lady,
a refugee from Tennessee, in reply to some expressions complimentary
to himself, and to a hope expressed for the recovery of Tennessee, is
markedly characteristic of the man :—

' To my noble division and not to myself belong the praises for the
deeds of gallantry you mention. Whatever we have done, however,
has been more than repaid by the generous appreciation of our coun-
trymen. I assure you, I feel the same ardent longing to recover the
magnificent forests and green valleys of middle Tennessee that you do ;
and I live in the hope that God will restore them to our arms. I
cannot predict when the time will be, but I feel that it ip certainly in

648 APPENDIX.

the future. We may have to make still greater sacrifices — to use all
the means that God has given us ; but when once our people, or the
great body of them, sincerely value independence above every other
earthly consideration, then I will regard our success as an accomplished
fact.

* Your friend,

; F. R. CI.KBUUXE.'

In a brief absence from Dalton, with one exception his only absence
during his service, Cleburne formed an attachment as earnest and
true as his own noble nature. The attachment was returned with the
fervour and devotion of the daughters of the South. Much might be said
of this episode — of its romantic beginning, and its tragic end ; but the
story of the loved and lost is too sacred to be unveiled to the public eye.

General Bragg had been relieved of the command of the Western
army, at his own request, after the battle of Missionary Ridge ; sub-
sequently General J. E. Johnston was assigned to the command. To
the Federal General Sherman was given the command of the armies
assembled at Chattanooga for the invasion of Georgia. The campaign
opened on the 7th of May. The history of its military operations,
under the conduct of General Johnston, is the record of a straggle
against largely superior forces, protracted through a period of seventy
days, and extending over a hundred miles of territory. The campaign
was characterised by brilliant partial engagements and continuous
skirmishing, the aggregate results of which summed up into heavy
battles. When the army reached Atlanta, notwithstanding the dis-
couragements of constant fighting, frequent retreats, and loss of
territory, it was with unimpaired organisation and morale.

In this campaign, Cieburne's division had two opportunities of
winning special distinction. At New Hope Church, on the 27th of May,
it formed the right of the army in two lines, the first entrenched. In
the afternoon of that day the 4th corps of the Federal army advanced
as if to pass its right. Cleburne promply brought his two brigades
of the second line into the first, extending it to face the Federal
advance. This line received the enemy's attack, made in seven lines,
on open ground, with no advantage on our side except a well-chosen
position, and after an obstinate fight of an hour-and-a-half repulsed it
Cieburne's troops were not only greatly outnumbered, but were out-
numbered by resolute soldiers. At the end of the combat about 700
Federal dead lay within thirty or forty feet of his line. During the
action a Federal colour-bearer planted his colours within ten paces of
Cieburne's line. He was instantly killed, a second who took his place
shared his fate, so with the third and fourth ; the fifth bore off the colours.

We read of little more effective fighting than that of Cheatham's

APPENDIX. 649

and Cleburne's divisions in repelling an assault made upon them by
Blair's corps of the Federal army, on the morning of the 27th of
June, at Kenesaw. The conduct of the Federal troops on that occa-
sion was as resolute as in the instance above. When they fell back,
more than 300 dead bodies were counted within a lew yards of Cle-
burne's entrenchment, some of them lying against it. His loss was
two killed and nine wounded, certainly less than 1 to 100 of the
enemy. On the 18th of July, Gen. Johnston was removed from the
Western army, and Gen. Hood promoted to its command.

On the 21st, while the army was occupying a line encircling the
northern front of Atlanta, Cleburne's division was detached to oppose
an attempt of a corps of the enemy to turn the Confederate right, and
penetrate to Atlanta at an undefended point. His troops, newly
arrived at the point of apprehended attack, had no protection, other
than the men provided themselves in the brief time allowed for pre-
paration. They were attacked by large odds, in front and on both
flanks. At one time Cleburne's line was so completely enfiladed, that
a single shot of the enemy killed nineteen men in one company. The
position was maintained, the enemy repulsed, and Atlanta preserved.
Cleburne described this as the 'bitterest fight' of his life. On the
22d of July, in carrying out a plan of general attack, my corps, con-
sisting then of Cleburne's and three other divisions, assaulted and
carried the entrenched left of the Federal army. The troops opposed
to us were McPherson's army, of which Blair's corps formed a part.
On the 27th of June, Cleburne had repelled an assault of these troops
with a loss signally disproportionate. It bears strong testimony to
the soldierly qualities of the Confederate troops, that on the 22d of
July, they, in positions exactly reversed, carried works equally strong
manned by the same troops. The loss of twenty-seven of about thirty
field officers in Cleburne's division in this action, attests the gallantry
of the officers and the severity of the conflict.

On the 26th of August, the Federal commander, Gen. Sherman,
commenced to turn the Confederate position at Atlanta. A Federal
force made a detour, and occupied a position at Jonesboro', about twenty-
five miles south of Atlanta. On the night of the 30th, Gen. Hood,
remaining in Atlanta with one corps of his army, sent the remaining
two, Lee's and my own, under my command, to dislodge this force. It
was found to consist of three corps, strongly entrenched. The attack
upon it was unsuccessful. Cleburne commanded my corps in this
action, and achieved the only success of the day, the capture of some
guns and a portion of the enemy's works. On the night of the 31st,
Gen. Hood withdrew Lee's corps towards Atlanta, and the Federal
commander was reinforced by three additional corps, so that on the

28

C50 APPENDIX.

morning of the 1st of September, my corps, in w.hich Cleburne had
renewed his place as division-commander, was confronted by six
Federal corps. Gen. Sherman had, meantime, arrived on the field,
and taken command in person. The enemy at once took the offensive.
It was of the last necessity to secure the safe withdrawal of the
remainder of the army from Atlanta, that this Confederate corps
should hold its position through the day. The odds were fearful, and
the contest that followed was a very trying one ; but the position was
held against the attacks made upon it through the day, and the re-
mainder of the army retired in safety from Atlanta. Cleburne's services
were highly valuable in the operations of this day.

In the fall and winter of 1864, Gen. Hood marched into Tennessee.
In this campaign, at the battle of Franklin, November the 30th, Cle-
burne fell at the head of his division. He was one of thirteen general
officers killed or disabled in the combat. He had impressed upon his
officers the necessity of carrying the position he had been ordered to
attack, a very strong one, at all cost. The troops knew from fearful
experience of their own, and their enemies, what it was to assault
such works. Tx> encourage them, Cleburne led them in person to the
ditch of the opposing line. There rider and horse, each pierced by a
score of bullets, fell dead against the reverse of the enemy 's
works.

The death of Cleburne cast a deep gloom over the army and the
country. Eight millions of people, whose hearts had learned to thrill
at his name, now mourned his loss, and felt there was none to take
his place. The division with which his fame was identified merits
more particular mention. It was worthy of him, and he had made
it so. Its numbers were made up, and its honours were shared, by
citizens of five communities— Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi,
and Tennessee. In it was also one regiment of Irishmen, who. on
every field, illustrated the characteristics of the race that furnishes
the world with soldiers. No one of its regiments but bore upon its
colours the significant device of the ' crossed cannon inverted,' and the
name of each battle in which it had been engaged. Prior to the
battle of Shiloh, a blue battle flag had been adopted by me for this
division; and when the Confederate battle flag became the national
colours, Cleburne's division, at its urgent request, was allowed to re-
tain its own bullet-riddled battle flags. This was the only division in
the Confederate service allowed to carry into action other than the
national colours ; and friends and foes soon learned to watch the course
of the blue flag that marked where Cleburne was in the battle.
Where this division defended, no odds broke its lines; where it
attacked, no numbers resisted its onslaught, save only once ;— and

APPENDIX. 651

there is the grave of Cleburne and his heroic division. In this
sketch of Cleburne there has been no intention of disparaging, by
omission or otherwise, the merits and services of other officers and
troops, some of which are eminently worthy of commemoration; but
the limits of a sketch, personal in its character, and giving a bare out-
line of the military operations with which the subject of it was con-
nected, necessarily preclude an account of the services, however great,
of others, even when rendered in the same action.

Cleburne at the time of his death was about 37 years of age>- He
was above the medium height, about 5 feet 11 inches, and though
without striking personal advantages, would have arrested attention
from a close observer as a man of mark. His hair, originally black,
became grey under the cares and fatigues of campaigning. His eyes,
a clear steel-grey in colour, were cold and abstracted usually, but
beamed genially in seasons of social intercourse, and blazed fiercely in
moments of excitement. A good-sized and well-shaped head, promi-
nent features, slightly aquiline nose, thin, greyish whiskers worn on
the lip and chin, and an expression of countenance when in repose
rather indicative of a man of thought than action, completes the
picture. His manners were distant and reserved to strangers, but
frank and winning among friends. His mind was of a highly logical
cast. Before expressing an opinion upon a subject, or coming to a
decision in any conjuncture of circumstances, he wore an expression
as if solving a mathematical proposition. The conclusion when
reached, was always stamped with mathematical correctness. He
was modest as a woman, but not wanting in that fine ambition which
ennobles men. Simple in his tastes and habits, and utterly regardless
of personal comfort, he was always mindful of the comfort and wel-
fare of his troops. An incident which occurred at Atlanta illustrates
his habitual humanity to prisoners. A captured Federal officer was
deprived of his hat and blankets by a needy soldier of Cleburne's
command, and Cleburne, failing to detect the offender or to recover
the property, sent the officer a hat of his own, and his only pair of
blankets.

Among his attachments was a very strong one for his adjutant,
General Captain Irving A. Buck, a boy in years, but a man in all
soldierly qualities, who for nearly two years of the war, shared Cle-
burne's labours during the day and his blankets at night.

He was also much attached to his youngest brother, who was killed
in one of Morgan's fights in Sonth-Western Virginia. This brother
inherited the brave qualities that belonged to the name, and after
being promoted from the ranks for 'distinguished gallantry,7 fell in a
charge at the head of his regiment.

652 APPENDIX.

Clcburne bad enough accent to betray his Irish birth. This accent,
perceptible in ordinary conversation, grew in times of excitement
into a strongly marked brogue. He was accustomed to refer to
Ireland as the ' old country,' and always in the tone of a son speak-
ing of an absent mother. He possessed considerable powers of wit
and oratory, the national heritage of the Irish people; but his wit,
perhaps characterised by the stern influences that had surrounded his
life, was rather grim than humorous. He had a marked literary
turn, and was singularly well-versed in the British poets. Indeed, he
had at one period of his life wooed the muse himself, and with no
inconsiderable success, as was evidenced by some fragments of his
poetical labours which he had preserved.

It was known that he had a brother in the Federal army, but he
seldom mentioned his name, and never without classifying him with
the mass of the Irish who had espoused the Federal cause, of whom
he always spoke in terms of strong indignation. His high integrity
revolted at the want of inconsistency and morality shown in the course
of that class of Irish who, invoking the sympathies of the world in
behalf of ' oppressed Ireland,' gave the powerful aid of their arms to
enslave another people.

Cleburne's remains were buried after the battle of Franklin, and
yet rest in the Polk Cemetery, near Columbia. Tennessee, the most
beautiful of the many beautiful spots in the valley of the Tennessee.
Generals Granberry and Strahl, brave comrades who fell in the same
action, were buried at his side. On the march to Franklin, a few
days before his death, Cleburne halted at this point, and in one of the
gentle moods of the man that sometimes softened the mien of the
soldier, gazed a moment in silence upon the scene, and turning to
some members of his staff said, ' It is almost worth dying to rest in
so sweet a spot.'

It was in remembrance of these words that their suggestion was
carried out in the choice of his burial-place. In this cemetery is set apart
a division called the ' Bishops' Corner.' Here were buried the remains
of the late Right Rev. Bishop Otey of Tennessee — here are to be
placed the ashes of the heroic bishop, General Leonidas Polk, and
here it is purposed that the tombs of the future bishops of Tennessee
shall be ranged beside these illustrious names. In this spot, where
nature has lavished her wealth of grace and beauty, in ground con-
secrated by the dust of illustrious patriots, churchmen, and warriors —
in the bosom of the State he did, so much to defend, within whose
borders he first guided his charging lines to victory, and on whose
soil he finally yielded to the cause the last and all a patriot soldier
can give— rests what was mortal of Patrick Cleburne, and will rest

APPENDIX. 663

until his adopted State shall claim his ashes, and raise above them
monumental honours to the virtues of her truest citizen, her noblest
champion, her greatest soldier.

Cleburne had often expressed the hope that he might not survive
the independence of the South. Heaven heard the prayer, and spared
him this pang. He fell before the banner he had so often guided to
victory was furled — before the people he fought for were crushed —
before the cause he loved was lost.

Two continents now claim his name ; eight millions of people
revere his memory ; two great communities raise monuments to his
virtues — and history will take up his fame, and hand it down to time
for exampling, wherever a courage without stain, a manhood with-
out blemish, an integrity that knew no compromise, and a patriotism
that withheld no sacrifice, are honoured of mankind.

SELMA, ALABAMA : May 1, 1867.

THE END.